


Deception: A Frozen Story

by littlebitofafixerupper



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Frozen (2013), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Canon Era, Crossover, Disney Multiverse, Gen, Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 21:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5306966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebitofafixerupper/pseuds/littlebitofafixerupper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set a few months after the events of Frozen Fever, Prince Henrik Westergard, older brother of Hans Westergard comes to Arendelle to negotiate peace between the two kingdoms. At the same time, Kristoff Bjorgman, Arendelle’s Ice Master, prepares for his last ice harvesting trip before the colder months begin. Henrik’s presence in Arendelle then sets off a chain reaction of events that could change the lives of Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and their friends forever. (Contains elements of Snow Sisters, Kristanna, Hansoff, Eugenzel and Frohanna)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Story contains strong language and elements of violence.

Summer had turned into a crisp autumn as Princess Anna strolled through the gardens. Olaf shuffled along beside her, picking flowers from each bush.

“He loves you.”

“Oh Olaf, will you stop with that?” Anna giggled at the snowman. Olaf picked off a petal of one of the flowers.

“He loves you, he loves you, and he loves you!” he said cheerfully as he picked off each petal.

“Olaf, just because he said it on a whim in a song doesn't necessarily mean that he-”

“Oh come on, Anna! Hans might have been a mean old doozy, but you can take one look at Sven- ahem, Kristoff and know that he's absolutely head over heels for you!” Anna thought for a moment. A while back had been her birthday. Elsa had put together a huge surprise party, only to get sick with a cold and Kristoff, her dearest friend besides her sister, had blurted out his true feelings for her. Anna wasn't quite sure if it was a real heartfelt declaration since her last romance had been... well... entirely false. She had been engaged to a devious prince who had tried to kill her and her sister just so he could rule over their kingdom. Since then, Anna had been a little wary on possible suitors but she had a good feeling about Kristoff. Sure, he was a little... abrasive towards people sometimes, didn't smell very good, hung out with a reindeer all the time, had trolls for parents and was just as shy as Elsa, if not worse, but deep down, Anna knew he was a sweetheart.

She stopped at an opening in the gardens and looked out into her kingdom of Arendelle. Her eyes soon found Kristoff, who stood at his sled selling ice to a customer, his reindeer Sven standing next to him with a smile on his face. Since she'd met him, his people skills had improved, which did wonders for his ice business. He must have thanked her for the help half a million times. She raised the corner of her lips just slightly and sighed. Now that she looked at him, he was sort of dreamy...

Suddenly, the bells of the tower rang, snapping Anna from her daydream. Someone from the Southern Isles was coming to meet with them today to discuss the current state of things and Anna absolutely had to be there. She gasped and lifted the train of her gown as she ran back inside the castle, Olaf trailing behind her. Elsa sat at her father's old desk in the office, anxiously waiting for Kai to escort in the messenger from the Southern Isles. She also anxiously awaited her sister, who was running late, as usual. Elsa jumped in her chair as she heard the door smash open as Anna barreled inside, hopping on one foot as she tried to fix her shoe.

“I'm here! I'm here! We didn't start yet, did we?”

Elsa chuckled a little and gave her sister a smile.

“No, they aren't even here yet, calm down.” she assured her, pulling a chair out next to her. “Have a seat. And you might want to fix your hair.”

Anna scampered over and sat down and picked at her hair, which had become a little mussed during her run up to Elsa's study. Elsa sighed and chuckled at her sister, who was only making her hair worse.

“Here, let me help you.” she told her as she fixed up her sister's hair. Within a few seconds, she had Anna's hair looking better than ever.

“There. Much better.” she said. Anna smiled.

“Thanks.”

Suddenly, she heard Kai clear his throat and straightened up in her chair in synch with Elsa.

“Your majesty, Prince Henrik of the Southern Isles.” Kai said, stepping aside to reveal a man who looked similar to Hans, only older in probably is late twenties to early thirties. He was slender like his brother, the same auburn hair though Henrik's might have been a little darker, accompanied by a mustache and a trimmed beard. He also had the same piercing green eyes as his brother and wore a nice suit, though not quite as form fitting as Hans' had been.

“Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, it is an honor to finally meet you both face to face,” Henrik said with a bow, “And might I just say, you two are even more beautiful in person.”

Normally, Anna would've been lost in the beauty of the man's eyes and face, but his brother had just tried to kill her sister a few months back, so she kept her composure and gave a curt nod as Elsa spoke up.

“Thank you, Henrik. Please, have a seat.” Elsa said, gesturing to a chair. Anna looked over at her sister and noticed something she hadn't noticed before... Elsa was looking at Henrik with awe. Anna almost let out a gasp, but instead swallowed hard and turned to face Henrik again.

“Everything all right, Princess Anna?” Henrik asked, raising an eyebrow. Anna nodded.

“Of course. What would be wrong? I'm totally fine.” Anna told him.

“Well, I guess I assumed you might be a little uncomfortable. After all, my bad boy brother did cause you quite a bit of pain and I suppose that would give you a reason to be uncomfortable around anyone who has anything to do with him.” Henrik replied.

“I'm fine.” Anna said hotly, “Now can we just get to what you wanted to talk to us about?”

“Anna...” Elsa hissed over at her sister, giving her a small elbow to the arm, “Manners.” she whispered again as she turned to Henrik. “So, Henrik, what would you like to say?”

Henrik cleared his throat. “I know my brother did wrong by the two of you and I understand how that could put a damper on things such as trade and loyalty.” he said, “And I would just like to tell you two that the Southern Isles holds nothing against you or anyone in Arendelle. We just want things to go back to the way they were.”

“I understand how that can be difficult, but I assure you, no one in the Southern Isles wants to hurt you in any way. You two ladies were simply defending yourselves and your kingdom. Any self-respecting rulers would've done the same thing without blinking an eye.” he said.

“Well, I'm certainly glad that you feel that way,” Elsa replied, “But what your brother did has cut deep between our ties and I believe it's going to be a while before things return to the way they were before all of this.”

Henrik sighed and shifted in his chair. “I know... and for that I am deeply sorry. To express my apologies, I can help you sort out any trade problems over the next couple of days. That is, if that is all right.”

Anna gasped in surprise. Him stay here? The brother of the man who had tried to kill them? No way. This would not work at all. Anna felt her heart skip a few beats as Elsa replied, “Yes, I think that would work out fine. It would give us more than enough time to figure out any trade matters as well as how we'll deal with it in the future.”

Anna couldn't take it. Her palms had begun to sweat from nervousness as she eyes Henrik suspiciously.

“Elsa-” she began.

“Just a minute, Anna.”

“No, Elsa. I need to-”

“Just a minute. So, Henrik, do we have a deal? You stay here and negotiate trade and peace for the next few days and nothing bad happens to Arendelle? No surprise attacks, no anything?”

Henrik nodded. “Yes, your majesty. I wouldn't dream of putting you girls through any more pain.”

Elsa smiled and extended a hand to Henrik. “Then shake my hand and we have a deal.”

Henrik smiled back and shook Elsa's hand. “Ooh.. your majesty. Your hand is... freezing.” he said, sounding genuinely worried. Elsa gave a small laugh as Anna glared at the both of them.

“It's all right, Henrik. My hands are always cold. It's never bothered me though.” she said.

“Well, thank goodness for that,” Henrik replied as he gave her hand a small kiss, bringing more color to Elsa's face that Anna had seen in fifteen years. She immediately began to feel sick as Elsa smiled at Henrik. She tried not to grimace as Henrik turned to her and offered his hand.

“What do you say, Princess?” he asked, giving a charming smile. The last thing Anna wanted to do was take his hand. She didn't trust him one bit. But, she didn't want to make things rocky with Elsa, especially after the two of them had become close again. Anna extended her hand and shook Henrik's. He also gave her a small kiss to the hand, making Anna's stomach churn. She did her best to put on a smile as she got up.

“Excuse me. I-I'll leave you two to... do your thing.” she said awkwardly as she gave a small, fake chuckle. “Um... bye.” Quick as a wink, Anna disappeared down the hall. Elsa shook her head and smiled.

“Your sister seems nice.” Henrik said, turning back to Elsa.

“She's my best friend.” Elsa told him, “I don't know what I'd do without her honestly. She keeps me from worrying too much.”

Henrik smirked. “See, that's the opposite with brothers.” he said, “I'm one of the middle children so, naturally, I had to deal with everything. Being picked on as the youngest, being pushed around as the middle and being looked up to as the older brother.”

“You were picked on?” Elsa asked him. Henrik nodded.

“Oh yeah, all the time. Even now I'm still the butt of some of their jokes.” he admitted.

“I'm sorry.” Elsa said. Henrik shook his head.

“Oh, don't be, really. It takes more than a little harmless teasing to get me down. And it's not like I haven't done it myself... I even pretended Hans was invisible for a while.”

“Oh, what?” Elsa asked, letting a laugh escape. Henrik grinned.

“Oh yes, you should've seen his face. Little jerk had it coming.” Henrik laughed, “He was always getting into trouble and blaming us and of course, our mother believed everything he said just because he was the baby.”

“He was a little troublemaker, huh?”

“Eh. Every once in a while. Although, I will admit, we did push him a little far a few times.” Henrik said, downcasting his eyes, “Maybe that's what made him go all psycho on you ladies. If it is, I apologize.”

“It's quite all right... you don't have to apologize anymore.” Elsa assured him, putting her icy hand atop his, “Now, what do you say we get to work?”

As the sun began to set, Kristoff packed up all of his supplies and headed back to the castle. It had been a pretty profitable day, all of his inventory was sold, leaving him with a sense of accomplishment as he and Sven made their way back through the castle gates.

After depositing his sled near the stables, Kristoff heard a low rumbling sound and raised his eyebrow, looking over at Sven, who looked down in surprise, then back at Kristoff and whined.

“Hungry, Sven?” Kristoff asked, smirking at the reindeer. Sven whined again as he nuzzled Kristoff, who chuckled at the reindeer.

“Yeah, I'm hungry too. Wanna go raid the kitchen?” he asked. Sven's pitiful look suddenly turned happy as he grunted excitedly and jumped around, kneeling down on the ground like a playful dog. Kristoff shook his head and smiled.

“Okay, come on buddy, let's go see what we can find.” A few minutes later, Kristoff pushed open the doors to the kitchens. The staff was nowhere to be found, which was a good thing. Even though he kept Sven bathed more regularly now, along with himself since he had daily access to soap and warm water, the staff didn't think very highly of a reindeer in the kitchens. Kristoff had tried convincing the staff that Sven was the castle's noblest steed or... reindeer rather, but they still didn't really welcome him in the kitchens. Kristoff went over to the stash of carrots and held one out to Sven, who eagerly wolfed it down. Kristoff then took one for himself. Suddenly, Kristoff and Sven jumped as the doors busted open.

“KRISTOFF!” he heard a familiar voice call out. The sound of the doors had made Kristoff jump, putting his hands in the air with the carrot still in his fist as he screamed, “Whatever it is I didn't do it!”. The door slammed and made him jump and choke on the carrot in his mouth and he began to cough, his hands still raised as a very irritated Anna stomped into the kitchens and slumped into a chair with her arms crossed.

“Hnnggg... er, Hi Anna.” Kristoff said, finally choking down the carrot in his throat, his eyes watering from choking, “Um... bad day?”

“You can say that again.” Anna pouted, “Hans' older brother's in town.” Kristoff raised his eyebrows, as did Sven as he gave the reindeer a bite of carrot before taking one himself.

“That was today?” he asked, his mouth full of carrot. “I didn't have to be there, did I?”

Anna laughed a little, “No, silly. You aren't royal!”

“Yeah, you got that right.” Kristoff said, taking another bite of carrot, “To tell you the truth, doesn't look like too much fun. Always looking nice, having to be on time, having to act all dignified all the time.” he went on as Sven let out a loud belch next to him. Kristoff looked at him and raised an eyebrow as Sven gave him a sheepish smile.

“Oh come on now, that was weak, big guy. I'm disappointed. How's this for you?” he said before letting out a louder belch. He raised his hand to his mouth, surprised by how loud the belch was and blushed. Anna grimaced but giggled anyway, putting her hands to her mouth to hold in her laughter.

“You two are born royalty.” she laughed as Kristoff looked back over at her.

“Oh yeah, of course. Did you just hear that? Been holding that in all day long.” Kristoff joked. Anna giggled again.

“You guys always make me feel better! I can't even remember what I was mad about.”

“Well you said that Hans' older brother was here and you kind of spat it out like it was cough syrup.” Kristoff reminded her. Anna's face turned sour again.

“Oh yeah... you would've hated him. He's such a charming pretty boy. Just like his dumb little brother. I just wanted to... just... smash his perfect face in!” Anna griped. Kristoff raised his eyebrows.

“Yeesh, what he do that was so bad?” Kristoff asked. Anna scoffed and gestured to the upper floor.

“He was charming Elsa! He kept saying all these nice, charming things and he kissed her hand and then mine and just.... blegh!”

“I thought you liked charming guys.” Kristoff said, confused.

“Not when they're related to crazy psychos!” Anna said. Kristoff shrugged and ate another carrot.

“And to make matters worse, he's gonna stay here!” Anna cried. Kristoff almost choked on his carrot.

“Do... what?” he said between coughs, “He's what?”

“Staying here!”

“For how long?”

“Who cares?! Point is I don't want him here, gosh darn it!” Anna pouted again, stomping her feet and crossing her arms, “I don't trust him and I don't want him doing anything to hurt me or Elsa! Or you guys! Or Olaf! Or... anybody!”

Kristoff shrugged again. “Well, how do you know that he's a bad guy? He could just be really charming and not have any evil plans or anything.”

“Oh yeah, what are the odds of that?” Anna asked.

“Well, if Sven behaved like Hans did, I would say he deserved what punishment he got.”

“Yeah, but you're not a Westergard.” Anna countered. Kristoff shrugged again.

“Well, you're right about that.” he replied, “Just swallow your pride and be nice until he leaves and if he does anything fishy... well... we can just kick him right out of here. Literally. I'll let you do it.” Anna smiled a little.

“There's a smile.” Kristoff said, pulling a chair up next to her and putting an arm around her. “Just don't let it get to you. It's actually not too hard to shut out people you don't like. I do it all the time.”

“But you don't like anybody.” Anna said.

“Hey now, I like some people.” Kristoff replied, smirking. “I like Sven. And you and Elsa. I like my family, I like Kai and most of the staff around here. I even like Olaf.”

“I guess you are right about that.”

“But everybody else? Nah, they don't do much for me.” Kristoff said, shaking his head.

“Oh come on! You can't just not like everyone!” Anna protested. Kristoff raised an eyebrow.

“You wanna bet?”

“Seriously? You haven't even taken the time to know them!” Anna said, nudging him.

“Says the girl who has an intense hatred for a man she just met today just because he just so happens to share the same blood as one bad person?” Kristoff told her.

“I.... I mean.... oh.... you- you...” Anna sputtered as Kristoff gave her a condescending look, “Oh... shut up! Why do you always have to be right?” Anna complained. Kristoff shrugged again.

“Are you forgetting who I grew up with?” Kristoff asked, referencing the rock trolls, “Everyone's a fixer upper. Even perfect princes. Just give him a chance.”

Anna stuck out her lower lip in a pout and huffed, “Oh... all right. But if he screws up once, out he goes!”

Kristoff nodded to her. “I couldn't agree more. Now, we'd better get Sven out of here before we get in trouble.”

 

 


	2. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kristoff departs on his ice harvesting trip; Elsa and Henrik grow closer

The ship was stuffy and smelled of fish, but it was better than a cramped cell and shoveling waste. Hans Westergard sat nervously on a ship to the Kingdom of Weselton. Due to a technicality, his sentence had been shortened, to the dismay of some of his brothers, although some were glad to have their brother out of jail. Ordinarily, Hans would have accepted his defeat and moved on with his life, but those two sisters had made it personal. Not only had they gotten him locked up and doing manual labor, but they had dragged his and his whole family name through the dirt with labeling him as a sociopath and attempted murderer. Hans knew his brothers didn't share the same feelings as him, but he didn't care.

After he'd been released, he'd received word from the Duke of Weselton, who was also angry with Queen Elsa for severing their trade deal that he wanted to meet privately in Weselton to negotiate with Hans. He had been boarded on the next ship out, making up a story for his brothers to throw them off of him. As Hans looked out of the ship, he saw that they were approaching the docks of Weselton and stood up, straightening his jacket and smoothing out his trousers. As the ship docked, Hans emerged from the ship and onto the deck, where the Duke stood waiting for him.

“Prince Hans.” he greeted, extending his hand. Hans took it and gave it a shake.

“Duke.”

“How was your trip over here?”

“A bit damp. Smelled of fish.” Hans complained.

“My apologies, but we needed you here as soon as possible.”

“I understand.

The Duke nodded and gestured for Hans to follow him. “Let's take a walk.”

Hans walked alongside the Duke off the ship and onto the docks, eager to break the silence.

“So, why did you want me here?” Hans asked, “I took a big risk coming here. I hope you know that.”

“I do, and I appreciate you coming on such short notice. I have come up with a plan, you see?”

“What is it?” Hans asked eagerly.

“If you and I merge together our forces, we can take Arendelle easily. We can invade the city, it is small enough after all and we can make our way to the castle and get rid of the Queen.”

“What about her ice powers?” Hans inquired, “Or did you forget about those?”

“I was getting to that.” the Duke said, “She wouldn't dare use her powers if you're threatening someone she cares about.”

“Anna.” Hans said on a whim. The Duke shook his head.

“She has more she cares about, boy. She has more friends now than she's ever had.”

“And those people would be?”

“The castle staff for instance. There are two who she really favors named Kai and Gerda. And let's not forget the snowman, Olaf.”

“You mean that little freak of nature she created?”

“Yes, that freak of nature. I've even learned that she has feelings for that monster she keeps up on the North Mountain in that castle of hers. She also holds feelings for the young peasant boy with the reindeer.”

“I see. What was his name?”

“Kristoffer or... Kristoff or something like that.” the Duke replied, “And she even cares about the reindeer he hangs around with as well.”

“And then that leaves her sister.” Hans said.

“Precisely. Which we will use her as a last resort because she is essential to getting further in our plans.”

“How is that?”

“You're going to marry her.”

Hans was in disbelief. “She would never consent.”

“Unless you threaten her sister, then she'll do anything you want. You marry her, we kill her sister, then kill her, and then, poof. You're the king.”

Hans furrowed his brow as he found a flaw in the Duke's plan. “Wouldn't it be quicker to marry Elsa?”

“Well, yes, but see if you marry her, there is still a live heir and true, you could always kill her after you're married, but that would mean-”

“Hold it. It would make no difference if I married either of them. I can go and marry Anna, keep her alive and have her be my Queen. After I kill her sister, she'll be heartbroken and probably take care of the task of killing her herself. Or... we could just make it look that way.”

The Duke thought for a moment and spoke again, “That's demented, boy... but it's just as effective as my old plan.”

“So, this is the plan we're going with?” Hans asked.

“I should say so.” the Duke agreed. Hans smiled.

“So... where do we start?”

“We board the next ship to Arendelle with my army. I hope you're ready.”

Hans gulped, but the thought of vengeance made him reconsider his nervousness.

“Point me in the right direction.”

***

As light spilled through Anna's room, she stirred in her bed. As she tossed and turned, she heard someone knock on the door.

“Princess Anna? Are you awake?” she heard Kai ask through the door. Anna mumbled and sat up in bed, running her fingers through her mess of orange hair.

“Mmm yeah, I am now. What is it?” she asked sleepily.

“Well, it's Master Kristoff, my lady. He's going on his last trip today?”

Anna suddenly gasped, more awake than ever. “Kristoff!” she yelped, jumping out of bed so fast that she didn't notice she was tangled in the sheets, making her fall to the floor with a thud.

“Ouch...” Anna mumbled as she got up, not even bothering to put on her shoes as she flung open the door, almost running over Kai in the process. Anna ran down the hall to Kristoff's room and found the door was open, but Kristoff was nowhere to be found.

_Oh... that smelly jerk better not have left without saying goodbye..._ Anna thought as she turned around and ran right into Prince Henrik, who was also in his nightclothes. She yelped as she ran into him and looked at him. He looked just as clean and perfect as he did the previous day, except his hair was a little askew.

“Why, good morning, my lady.” he said, “Where are you off too in such a hurry?”

“Um... sorry, can't talk, gotta run!” Anna said shortly as she sped off down the stairs, sliding down the banister to save her time. As she reached the doors, she bolted out and ran to the stables to find Kristoff packing up, in his warm harvesting clothes. She noticed Sven, who grunted happily and smiled, shaking his head happily at her.

“What's your problem, Sven? Calm down.” Kristoff said before Sven tapped him with his antlers and nodded towards Anna. Kristoff turned around and stifled a laugh.

“Well, you look lovely this morning, your highness.” he joked, crossing his arms.

“Heh heh, very funny.” Anna said mockingly as she walked over to him, her head just reaching his nose with her bare feet on the ground, which, now that she had slowed down, noticed was really cold. “You really think you could leave without saying goodbye, Mr. Man?” she asked.

Kristoff scoffed in surprise. “Did you really think I'd leave without saying goodbye to _you_?” he asked, “Are you crazy? I'd never do that.” He smiled at Anna and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a tight squeeze and making her groan.

“Er... Kristoff... little too much.”

“Then hug me back, lady!” Kristoff retorted. Anna wrapped her arms around his torso and squeezed him back.

“Whoa... you are a lot stronger than you look.” Kristoff groaned as Anna squeezed him, “It's a wonder you didn't break what's-his-face's nose when you punched him.” He let go of her, but Anna still remained attached to his torso. “Um... Anna.”

“Don't be gone long, will you?” she asked, “I need someone to vent to whenever Henrik irritates me. And I need someone to walk around town with and... stuff.”

Kristoff smirked. “I'll be gone two days at the max. This won't be too bad of a trip since it's getting colder.” he assured her.

“Good.” Anna said, finally letting go of him. She pulled him close to her by the collar and kissed his nose before ruffling his messy blonde hair “Come back safe, okay?”

“Okay.” Kristoff promised. Anna made her way over to Sven and petted his muzzle before giving him a loving scratch behind the ears and a kiss on the head, making Sven grunt sheepishly, as if he were blushing.

“You look out for him, Sven. Don't let him do anything stupid.” she said, throwing a joking smile Kristoff's way. Kristoff smiled back as he got in the sled.

“We'll do fine, Anna. Now, go on and get inside, it's cold out here. And put some shoes on.” he said.

Anna waved and blew them both a kiss. “See you soon, boys!” she called out as Sven began to pull the sled away.

“I'll be back before you know it!” Kristoff called back as he and Sven pulled out of the castle gates.

As they left, Anna smiled and shuffled her feet before turning around and starting to skip her away inside.

______________________________________________________________________

In her room, Elsa was brushing out her hair. She wore a new gown she had made from her ice. Her hair was down, not in its usual braid. Earlier in the morning, Kristoff had come by to tell her goodbye for his ice harvesting trip. Over the last few months, she had become closer to Kristoff, though, not as close as her sister. She wondered if there was something more between them... Anna swore they were only friends that she wasn't ready for any commitment after what happened with Hans, but Elsa wasn't so sure. If there was something between them, she vastly approved of Kristoff. Sure, he might hang around with a reindeer, occasionally smell like one, might not be the best around people and be a little more honest with people than he should, but Elsa saw what Anna saw; a sweet, sensitive young man who cared a lot for others, though he may not always express it. She would miss him while he was gone. Him and the way he would stare in awe whenever she would use her ice powers. She remembered a few weeks back when she had given him a shirt made from her ice and how he wore it for days and days until Anna finally had to tell him to wash it. The thought made her smile a little as she heard a knock at her door.

“Good morning, your majesty.” she heard Henrik say. She turned around to see him leaning on the door frame, looking as dashing as he did the previous day. Elsa gave him a smile.

“Good morning.” she said as she returned to brushing her hair.

“May I come in?” she heard him ask.

“You may.”

She heard Henrik enter the room and sensed him beside her as he took a seat. After a few seconds, he spoke again, “Your hair's down.”

“Yes.” Elsa said, continuing to brush, “I do let it down every once in a while.”

“It's beautiful.” Henrik told her. Elsa tried not to blush.

“Thank you.” Elsa wasn't used to compliments. At least, not from men. Sure, Kai and the rest of the castle staff, along with Kristoff gave her compliments once in a while, but... none of them felt like this.

“You're welcome.” she heard him say. “Do people tell you that often?”

“Well, sometimes... just the people around the castle. And Anna, of course.”

“Oh yes, your sister. She seems... sweet. She really seems to care a lot about you. How long were you two apart?”

Elsa put her brush down and looked in the mirror, thinking about how painful it had been having to ignore Anna for so many years.

“Thirteen years.” Elsa mumbled. Henrik looked surprised.

“Wow... Why were you apart for so long if you two cared about each other so much?”

Elsa swallowed, remembering the painful memory of accidentally hitting Anna with her magic. “Because... I hurt her. One night, while we were playing... I was making these little snow hills with my powers and she was jumping from each one and... she started going way too fast and I couldn't keep up. I tried to make another hill for her to land on, but I slipped and my magic ended up hitting her in the head...” Elsa explained. She felt Henrik put his hand on her shoulder.

“Oh Elsa... I'm sorry to hear that...” he told her.

“It's okay... it's over now. But... I still feel guilty sometimes... Especially since I hurt her again a while back, during the freeze in July.” Elsa hadn't thought about that for a long time, let alone talked about it.

“She came to get me to come back to Arendelle after I froze it but... I lost control of my powers and struck her in the heart.”

“What? You struck her in the heart?” Henrik asked, “Is that... worse than being struck in the head?”

“Yeah... a lot worse. The next time I saw her was when she threw herself in front of your brother's sword to protect me and... froze to solid ice.” Elsa said, her voice cracking. “I was so sure I'd... I'd killed her. All because I couldn't control my powers.”

“But then she thawed though, because she's here now.” Henrik reminded her. Elsa smiled the tiniest bit.

“Yes... all because she sacrificed herself for me... even though I'd shut her out for years. And ever since then we've been close. And I couldn't be more grateful for that.”

Henrik looked a little sad. Elsa furrowed her brow at his sudden sadness and tilted her head.

“What's the matter?”

Henrik shrugged. “It's just... I wish my brothers were like that.” he said solemnly, “Ever since I can remember we've always been fighting over everything. Who gets the last piece of pie... just... ridiculous things. And we shouldn't fight so much but I guess there's just so many of us and we're all so different that we may not ever all see eye to eye. And I would love it if at least one of my brothers was as close to me as you are Anna. Sure, I may have 12 brothers but, actually, it's surprisingly lonely.” he explained, looking from Elsa to the floor. Elsa instinctively put her hand on his and gave him a reassuring look.

“I know how it feels to be alone, Henrik. It isn't fun... but I promise, one day you will find someone who will make you feel the way you want to.” she reassured him. Henrik smiled sadly.

“Thank you, your majesty.”

Elsa tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled shyly. “Actually, you can just call me Elsa.”

Outside Elsa's room, Anna leaned up against the wall, horrified. She had come up to talk with her sister, but Henrik had gotten there before her and was now worming his way into Elsa's brain...

Anna felt sick. What if it was just like what happened with Hans? Surely Elsa had better judgment than her, being older and all. She was the one who insisted Anna not marry Hans in the first place! But... Elsa had also never been in love. Never had a man compliment her and treat her the way Henrik was... it might end up clouding her judgment. Anna couldn't let that happen. Who knew? Maybe Elsa would listen to her if she told her how she felt... After all, she was her closest friend. She continued to think it over as she made her way back to her room to get ready for breakfast.

“Should I tell her? No... she might get mad... but then, what if she doesn't? What if she actually agrees?” Anna rambled to herself as Olaf came waddling up next to her.

“What happens if you do tell her?” Olaf piped up, making Anna jump in surprise.

“Huh- what?” she yelped as she looked down and saw Olaf smiling up at her.

“What happens if you tell her? Or, tell who what? Or... tell what to whom? Or... are you telling a who what's a what? Or are you-”

“Okay, hold on Olaf.” Anna said, waving her arms to snap Olaf out of his train of thought. “What are we talking about?”

Olaf shrugged his twig arms. “I don't know! I was hoping maybe you did, but you sounded all confused.”

Anna sighed as she sat down at her vanity and started brushing out her tangled hair. “Oh, I don't know, Olaf. I guess I am sort of confused.”

Olaf crawled up on the corner of Anna's vanity and sat, his feet dangling beneath him. “That's okay. I get confused all the time.” he said, “What are you confused about?”

“It's Henrik.” she said, “I don't trust him. And... I'm not sure if Elsa does or not. She seems to trust him an awful lot...”

“Oh.” Olaf said, “I'll go ask her!”

Anna gasped and stopped Olaf before he could jump down from her vanity. “No! No, Olaf! You can't tell her!”

“But why not? You guys are sisters! Don't you trust each other with everything?” Olaf asked, genuinely confused.

“Well... yeah... but this is different, Olaf.”

“How?”

“It's because... because...” Anna groaned. This was difficult. She wished she could explain it better to Olaf, but he was so innocent and she wasn't sure he would understand.

“It's complicated, Olaf.” she said, “I wish I could explain it better but... I don't know how. Just... please promise me you won't tell her, Okay?”

Olaf looked confused for a minute, then looked up at Anna and smiled a little. “I promise.”

Anna smiled and hugged the little snowman. “Thanks, Olaf. I knew I could trust you.”

“Of course you can! I'll always be here to listen to you, Anna! I love you!” Olaf proclaimed.

“I love you too, little guy.” Anna smiled as she kissed Olaf on the cheek. Kristoff may not be around, but at least now she had someone else to confide in.

 


	3. Imprisonment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kristoff's trip takes a turn; there is a further development in Hans' plan

The ship ride from Weselton had been better than the one from the Southern Isles. The ship didn't smell of fish and was actually very comfortable. However, Hans was still nervous about going to Arendelle. Sure, the Duke's plan was well thought out, but what if Elsa managed to freeze them before they could do anything? Clearly, she would be difficult. As Hans looked out over the horizon, he saw Arendelle off in the distance. They weren't docking there due to the fact that he and the Duke were no longer welcome. They would have to dock a town over.

“We're coming around, Prince Hans.” he heard a deckhand tell him. He gave a nod and turned, looking around for the Duke. He'd been told that they'd have to set up camp somewhere like peasants. Hans didn't think too highly of this, but if it got him closer to Arendelle, he didn't care. Within a few minutes, the Duke's men along with the Duke himself had found a spot deep within the woods, where no one would think to look. Hans looked around as the men began to set up camp.

“Believe me, I'd rather be indoors as well.” he heard the Duke say, “It's quite drafty out here this time of year.”

“I've seen colder.” Hans replied.

“We both have, boy. We've endured Queen Elsa's harsh winter, we can endure this for the next few days.”

Hans looked over in the distance and spotted a cabin off in the distance. He tapped the Duke and nodded off towards the cabin.

“Maybe that could be of some use?” he suggested. After a moment, the Duke patted him on the shoulder.

“Good thinking, boy. We'll head there.”

_____________________________________________________________________

As the sun began to set, Kristoff threw the rest of his supplies in the back of the sled, along with the blocks of ice he had gotten that day. It had been quite a profitable day if he did say so himself. If he had another day like this tomorrow, he'd be home sooner than he thought. He got in the sled and urged Sven towards an old cabin. The cabin wasn't owned by anyone so, usually Kristoff and Sven would shack up there while on their trips. The air had gotten colder, making Kristoff anxious to get back to the cabin.

After a few minutes, the both of them arrived at the cabin. Kristoff got down from the sled and went to go unhitch Sven's harness, but stopped when he heard something... He turned around and looked over at the trees and shrubs. Nothing was there. His eyes went over to the cabin's window and saw a dim light inside the cabin. He moved closer to the window to see if he could hear anything. The shade on the window was drawn, preventing him from seeing inside. He heard Sven follow behind him. He turned to the reindeer and whispered, “Shhh.” before he turned back to the window. As he strained to listen in, Sven also leaned in close, trying to figure out what was going on. The voices inside began to get a little louder and Kristoff swore he recognized one of the voices. It almost sounded like the same guy Anna had punched in the face after the thaw. Prince... something. Just as he figured out the guy's name, he heard a thud behind him. As he turned around, someone smacked him across the face, knocking him out cold.

_____________________________________________________________________

“Prince Hans, Duke, we found someone outside.”

Hans turned around to see one of the Duke's men drag in an unconscious man and lay him on the floor. They'd hit him across the face, leaving a large red welt and a little blood on the man's face.

“Say, that young man looks familiar...” the Duke said as two other men dragged in a reindeer, also unconscious. Hans knew exactly who this man was.

“It's the Princess's friend, the peasant. Kristoff.” he spat.

“What should we do with them, your grace?” one of the Duke's men asked. The Duke looked up at Hans, indicating he should make the decision. Hans looked from the Duke back to Kristoff and his reindeer.

“We'll keep them here. Can't have them rushing off to tell the Queen and Princess that we're coming.” he said, “Make sure the both of them stay put and stay quiet. And make it uncomfortable.” he said as the men drug away Kristoff and the reindeer. This was working out better than he'd hoped.

______________________________________________________________________

Later on, Kristoff slowly began to open his eyes, trying to remember what had happened to him and Sven. As he began to wake up, he heard something rustling and what sounded like a series of frustrated yet frightened grunts from Sven. As his eyes adjusted to the lack of light around him, Kristoff could see that it was indeed his poor reindeer making all the noise. As he looked over at him, he could see that someone had tied ropes around Sven's snout, rendering him more silent than before. Not only that, but the ropes were also secured to the wall, preventing Sven from leaving.

Kristoff began to try and crawl towards Sven, but found that he could not move his arms or legs. He realized as he tried to move that his hands were tied behind his back and ropes bound his arms tight against his body. He looked down at his feet, discovering his ankles were bound as well. He looked back towards Sven and tried to call out his name to try and calm him down, but the words were muffled by a thick material tied so tightly over his mouth that it hurt to move his head at all. Kristoff looked over at Sven again, struggling to free himself so he could comfort the poor animal, but had no success. As he began to try again, he saw some shadows gather on the other side of the door through the small space between the door and the floor and quickly stopped moving around, his eyes wide, trying to be as quiet as possible. He heard voices behind the door, one of them sounding like Prince Hans' voice. Then he suddenly remembered being outside and hearing it before being knocked out. His eyes were still wide with shock as the door opened and in stepped just the man he hoped he wouldn't see.

“Oh, looks like you're awake.” Hans said as Kristoff narrowed his eyes at him, trying to threaten him but his words getting lost in the material that covered his mouth.

“What's that? I can't understand you.” Hans teased as Kristoff let out a muffled groan of frustration. Hans grabbed the ropes wrapped around Kristoff's torso and pulled him up to his feet, the only light in the room coming from a small lantern he'd brought in. He ran a gloved hand through Kristoff's mess of hair. Kristoff cringed, wanting to tear the man apart, but instead just struggled against the ropes binding him. His hat had fallen off onto the floor next to him, allowing the disgusting Prince to touch his head.

“You're going to be staying here with us for a little while. We can't have you going back to the kingdom and letting everyone know that I'm out, can we?” Hans asked. Kristoff looked away, not answering. Suddenly, Hans jerked him by the ropes before grabbing Kristoff's face around his jaw and holding it still, his piercing green eyes staring into Kristoff's softer brown ones.

“Can we? Answer me.” Hans demanded. Kristoff rolled his eyes and struggled to shake his head. Hans grinned and dropped him back down on the hard floor, making Kristoff groan in pain underneath the material. Before Kristoff could do anything else, he saw Hans go over to Sven and pet his head.

“Nice pet you have here.” Hans teased again. Kristoff saw Sven's expression turn from determined to scared as Hans petted his head. He heard the poor reindeer whimper out of fear and thrashed against his bonds, trying to get to Sven as he cursed at Hans under the gag.

“Oh don't worry, as long as you two cooperate, no harm will come to you or your cute little reindeer.” Hans said, smiling as he chuckled. The chuckle sent shivers up Kristoff's spine as Hans came closer and picked up Kristoff by the ropes. Kristoff tried to protest, but Hans didn't stop. He dragged him across the room and dumped him next to Sven before going over to the door and pulling it behind him as he left. Before Kristoff knew it, Hans had closed the door, locking it with a click, leaving he and Sven in total darkness, the only light coming from underneath the door. After Hans had locked them inside, Kristoff felt Sven nuzzle him and heard him whine. Kristoff tried his best to try and pet the poor animal, but he couldn't move his hands at all. His thoughts raced to Anna and Elsa. If Hans was out, surely he was after them. He had to get out somehow and go warn them... but he didn't know if he could. As Sven nuzzled him more, the poor reindeer began to whine even more. Kristoff hadn't heard him sound this scared in a while, and Sven was one of the bravest creatures to ever walk around on four legs, the same animal that threw Kristoff onto solid ice during the whiteout so he could get to Anna, even if it meant him falling into freezing ice water. He'd gotten out, but still, the brave reindeer that had been around during the whiteout wasn't around now. Then again, he had never been in a situation like this...

...and neither had Kristoff.

 


	4. Helpless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna worries about her loved ones; Kristoff weighs the gravity of the situation he and Sven are in.

Anna sat at her window, staring out at the gates. It was the day Kristoff said he'd be back and she was anxious for him to finally return. She'd waited at the window all day, despite Elsa's pleas to come down and get her mind off of things. Anna simply couldn't do it. Usually, Kristoff was back in the middle of the day, but it was night now. The torches near the entrance to the castle gates still burned bright, just in case Kristoff returned in the middle of the night.

Elsa had been with Henrik all day, to Anna's knowledge. She'd had Olaf pass by them a few times just to see if they had left each other. Every time she asked Olaf about it, he confirmed that they were together. That worried Anna. Usually, she would be happy about Elsa spending so much time with a man, but... not this one. She couldn't help it, she just didn't trust him. Every time he'd seen her, he had been cordial and sweet, but then, so had his brother.

“Anna? Are you still up?” she heard Elsa ask. Anna looked over at the door to see her sister in her nightgown, her hair down around her shoulders. Anna was still in the gown she had worn that day, not bothering to change just yet.

“Yeah, I'm still up.”

“May I come in?”

“Sure.” Anna said as Elsa came in and sat down on the bed.

“You should stop all this worrying, it's not good for you.” Elsa told her. Anna turned back toward the window.

“I'm not worrying. I'm just... anxious for him to get back.” Anna lied. Elsa sighed and gave her sister a look.

“Anna...”

“Okay, maybe I am a little worried, but how could I not be? He was supposed to be back hours ago. He's never this late.”

“I'm sure he's fine. Maybe they got a late start and got tired or something.” Elsa reassured her. Anna crossed her arms and looked out the window again.

“Yeah. Maybe...” she said. Elsa furrowed her brow.

“Is there something else bothering you, Anna?” she asked, “You haven't really been yourself these past few days.”

Anna shook her head. “No, I'm fine, really. It's just you've been really busy. That's all.”

“No... that's not it.” Elsa said, “Come on, tell me. I'm your sister.”

Anna sighed. “Well... I guess it's because I'm worried.”

“About Kristoff?”

“About you.”

Elsa looked confused as she put a hand on Anna's shoulder. “Why would you be worried about me?”

“Well... It's because of Henrik...” Anna admitted. Elsa looked surprised.

“Henrik? What does this have to do with him?”

“He's Hans' brother, Elsa. He could be here to hurt us.” Anna said.

“Anna, let me assure you, he's not here to hurt us. If he was, he would've done it by now.” Elsa replied.

“But what if he's waiting? For Hans maybe? Maybe they want to try and take over the kingdom together! Or... maybe they want revenge on us for locking up his brother, or-”

“Anna. Calm down.” Elsa said, putting her hands on Anna's shoulders, “He's already said that he and his brothers were angry with Hans for what he did and he's getting what he deserves. We are in no danger.”

Anna glared at her sister. “You're just saying that because you're in love with him.” she snapped before getting up and walking out. Elsa was dumbstruck. She gasped and jumped up, going after her sister.

“And what's that supposed to mean?” she called down the hall after Anna.

“What do you think it means, Elsa?” Anna shot back, angry tears threatening to spill down her face.

“Anna, slow down. We need to talk about this!”

“Oh, the hell we do!” Anna yelled back as she broke into a run. She felt the air grow cold behind her as Elsa chased after her, pleading with her to stop.

“Anna, please! Stop!” she heard her call. Anna couldn't take it any longer. She let the tears come as she ran out of the castle. Elsa stopped, out of breath as she looked behind her, seeing a trail of ice she made. Elsa sighed as she went over to the wall, taking a seat on the floor, putting her head in her hands, trying to pull it together.

As Anna ran, her mind only went to one place. The stables. She wondered if maybe Kristoff was there, finally. The thought gave her strength as she sprinted towards the stable, slowing down as she approached, not seeing any sign of Kristoff's sled. She exhaled in defeat, dragging herself into the stables. She flung herself down onto the pile of hay in Sven's stable, where he slept and where Kristoff sang him to sleep each night.

Great. Right when Elsa and her had gotten so close, she had to go and mess it all up with her big mouth. Why couldn’t she had just kept it inside and never let Elsa know? It wasn’t like Henrik was staying forever… if she had only waited… now there was no way Elsa would talk to her, not after she ran out on her. Anna looked over on the small table in Sven’s stable, seeing where Kristoff had left one of his tunics behind. With tears pooling in her eyes, she snatched it from the table and looked at it. It had various patches in it from where Kristoff had ripped it so many times.

“Why don’t you just let me get you a new one?” Anna had offered him. After all, it’s not like she couldn’t afford clothing, let alone clothing for Kristoff, who had done so much for her.

“What’s wrong with this one?” he had asked. Anna had laughed and then snatched the tunic from his hands, putting two fingers through one of the holes in it.

“It’s got holes all in it! Won’t you get cold?” she had asked. Kristoff had taken it back, smirking.

“Oh there’s not that many holes in it. And hey, I’ve been fixing my clothes for years, this is no problem.” he’d said, looking the tunic over, his face falling when he saw how many holes were in it. “Eh, nothing a little patchwork can’t fix.”

Anna had rolled her eyes, giving him a playful punch in the arm. “Why can’t you just let me treat you?”

“You got me a sled! And a job, and a new place for me and Sven to live-”

“You helped me find my sister!”

Kristoff had stumbled a bit there, “Er… well, yeah, but-” Anna had put her finger to his lips. “Hey. Shhhh. No excuses.”

“But-”

“Kristoff.”

He had sighed, rolling his eyes as he pouted at her. Anna scoffed, not being able to help herself as she grinned.

“You’re a child.” she had said.

“Am not.”

“Pfft. If you say so.”

As she looked at the tunic, the memory became even more painful as she sat there, worried about him now more than ever. Where was he? She closed her eyes, falling back down on the pile of hay as she clutched the tunic to her chest.

“Aw Kristoff… I wish you were here…”

____________________________________________________________________

Kristoff wished he were anywhere but where he was. He could feel sores forming on his wrists from where the ropes had been binding them over the past two days. He'd only been taken out of the room a few times to go to the bathroom, where he was still watched by Hans and the Duke's men, who threatened to put an arrow through his leg if he ran. He and Sven had been allowed scraps of the men's food, most of which had been half eaten and spit on. He was supervised as he ate as well, it being the only time Hans had allowed his gag be untied. He could feel the material starting to rub a sore on the back of his neck. He had, however, managed to get a little closer to Sven, who started to calm down. He was still afraid, like Kristoff was, but he had calmed down a great deal, often sleeping through the days.

Kristoff's thoughts went to Anna and Elsa. Since he hadn't come back today, the two of them had to be worried, right? Surely they would send out someone to look for them... but how many people knew where this cabin was? How long would it take them to get here? Days? Weeks? Kristoff couldn't live like this much longer and neither could Sven... Kristoff looked around the room again for about the thousandth time for something, anything sharp that he could use to maybe slice through the ropes... or maybe even something glass or breakable... anything with a sharp edge. But the room was empty. Hans and his men must have cleaned it out before Kristoff and Sven had woken up in the room. Kristoff sighed, and then suddenly, a light shined under the crack of the door and Kristoff heard voices. He inched his way across the floor over to the door so he could hear better. As he approached the door, he put his ear to it and overheard two men talking...

“...but how long until we leave for Arendelle? I didn't sign up to babysit some smelly guy and his pet.”

“I told you, when Hans and the Duke are ready. We still need more men if we're going to take the city on our own.”

Kristoff's brown eyes went wide as he pressed his ear even harder into the door, straining to listen closer.

“We'd better get a good reward for doing all of this for them. I'm not staying up all night for nothing.”

“Will you stop moaning about everything? The Duke said he would pay us the best reward we could get and Hans said he'd double it if we kept an eye on blondie and his pet. As a matter of fact, the Duke gave us free range to do whatever we wanted to them.”

“Why is that?”

“Because it'll hurt the Queen and Princess, you dolt. Why else would you think? The Duke says that blondie has a good relationship with the Queen and an even deeper one for the Princess.”

Kristoff's eyes darted around, his breaths heavy under the gag as he tried to figure out just what the two men were planning on doing. Each possibility left him with the same, sickening feeling.

“What, are they a couple?”

“Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Although if they are, I would say she's really lowered her standards since she broke it off with Hans.”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. I mean, you go from a Prince to some disgusting dullard who hangs around with a moose? And apparently he even talks to the damn thing.”

“Ha. Wow. Say... what do you say we pay him a little late night visit?”

“Sounds fun. Not like he can do anything to stop us anyway.”

Kristoff took his ear away from the door as he heard the men start to approach, their footsteps seemed to echo in the room. He backed away from the door a little too quickly than he intended to and landed hard on the ground, causing him to groan in pain through his gag as he tried his best to back away from the door. Before he knew it, the door had swung open and the two men stepped inside.

“Oh look, he's just the way we left him.” one of the men said teasingly.

“Probably isn't smart enough to try and figure a way out of here.” the other laughed as Kristoff narrowed his eyes at them. He quickly darted his eyes over to Sven, who whined quietly and kept his head down.

“Help him stand up, poor guy shouldn't have to lay down on the floor the whole time.” one of the men said as the other took Kristoff's arms and stood him up on his knees.

“There we go, better isn't it?” the man asked. Kristoff couldn't answer, so he didn't.

“Huh? What's that? Don't have an answer for me?” the man asked. Kristoff rolled his eyes and looked away. Suddenly, he felt the man grab his throat.

“You better give me an answer!” the man shouted at him. Kristoff furrowed his brow and before he knew it, he was on the floor again, letting out a muffled groan as he hit the ground. He tried his best to try and wriggle free of the ropes that bound his wrists, but whoever had tied them had done an even better job than him at rope tying. Before he knew it, there was a sharp pain in his ribs as one of the men delivered a kick to his abdomen, making him groan again, cursing beneath the gag. Kristoff looked up right before the other man was about to give him another kick, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“What the devil's going on in here?” he heard Hans ask. Part of Kristoff was relieved as he sighed beneath the gag, glad that the second kick hadn't happened, but the other part of him was infuriated to see this red-headed bastard again.

“Um.... nothing, your highness.” one of the men mumbled. Hans raised an auburn eyebrow.

“Really? Because it seems to me that you two have brought it upon yourselves to come in here and bother our two guests. Is that true? Don't lie to me.” Hans ordered, his voice sounding more threatening now. Kristoff's eyes darted back and forth between the Duke's men and Hans.

“It's true...” the man confessed. Hans shook his head.

“Out. Both of you. I'll deal with you later.” he growled as the two men left the room. Hans closed the door, the only light being the lantern again. He stooped down to Kristoff's level and met his gaze. Kristoff still saw the shadows of the Duke's men beneath the crack in the door. They were waiting outside... his brown eyes went wide for a second and then darted away as he turned away from Hans out of disdain.

“Sorry about that. It won't be happening again, let me assure you.” he said, going to turn Kristoff's head towards his. The instant he felt Hans's hand touch his head, Kristoff jerked away, doing his best to squirm away from Hans.

“Hey, hey, stop it.” Hans ordered, “I'm not going to do anything, I just want to speak to you. Face to face.”

“Lmmm hermm ymm dfff.” Kristoff said into his gag. _Like hell you do._ Hans shook his head.

“What was that?” he asked as Kristoff felt the pressure behind his neck relieved as Hans untied the gag.

“Like hell you do.” he mumbled, still facing away from Hans. Hans scowled and jerked Kristoff around to look him in the eye.

“Hey, let's get something straight,” he began, staring into Kristoff's brown eyes, now full of distaste and hate, “I'm the one in charge here. I'm the one who decides when and if you live or die.”

“Why don't you just go ahead and kill me?” Kristoff asked. Hans gave a cruel chuckle.

“Because what fun would that be?” he said, “You clearly mean a lot to Anna and the fact that you're gone must bother her and her sister a lot. So I figure, maybe I can torture them with worry over you until I go back and take over. Then maybe I can get rid of you. Or... maybe if you behave, I'll keep you around for a pet. You smell enough like one.” he grinned, “Honestly, I don't see why Anna would fall for a guy like you.”

“Maybe because I tried to help her instead of tried to kill her?” Kristoff said sarcastically.

“Tried to kill her? No, Kristoffer, I didn't try to kill _her,_ I tried to kill her sister. I left her to die because Elsa had already done my work for me.” he corrected. Kristoff's face burned with anger.

“It's _Kristoff_.” he growled at Hans.

“Oh, my mistake. Wouldn't want to get the useless, smelly ice boy's name wrong now would I? I might upset him or something.”

“Yes. You might, pretty boy.” Kristoff agreed.

Hans tsked. “Hmm. You sure do have quite a mouth on you, don't you?” he asked, looking at the material still in his hand, “I think I liked you better quiet.” he said as Kristoff realized what was about to happen and twisted his head away.

“No...” he began as Hans roughly grabbed his face and began to force the gag back over his mouth, “No! No- hnfffff. Mmmphh.”

“Yes, I do believe you're better off this way.” Hans said as he knotted the gag even tighter than before over Kristoff's mouth, “Can't say anything that might get you into even more trouble, huh?” he joked as he mussed Kristoff's already messy blonde hair, causing Kristoff to groan, giving Hans a death stare. Hans grinned and let Kristoff fall back to the floor, the ropes still just as tight as before as he made his way towards the door.

“Goodnight, Kristoff.” he sneered as he closed the door, leaving Kristoff in the dark.

 


	5. Plotting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna wonders how she can help Kristoff

Anna awoke slowly to something nuzzling her face.

“Oh Sven, stop... go back to sleep...” she mumbled when her eyes suddenly snapped open. “Sven?!”

She turned to look, but there was no Sven. Just a horse being led by the stable boy, who looked very confused.

“Princess Anna? Your highness, what are you doing out here?” he asked her. Anna looked down at the bale of hay she had laid on the previous night. Her dress was covered in the hay and it was in her hair, which was naturally a mess. She looked down at her hand and saw that she still clutched Kristoff's gray tunic.

“It's fine... I'm fine. Honestly. Don't worry about me.” she assured the stable boy.

“Are you sure? I could send for someone to get Queen Elsa.”

“No!” Anna said a little to loudly a suddenly. “I mean er... no- no thank you. I'll be fine, honestly. Just... take care of the horses... please. And keep this stall here vacant.”

“Your highness, Sven hasn't been back since what's his name-”

“Kristoff.”

“Kristoff left for that trip. I could store another horse here and make it more-”

Anna was losing her patience now. “Did you not here what I just said?” she demanded.

“Yes, your highness, I did.”

“Then do as I say... darn it.” she said, stomping her tiny foot on the stone and hurting it a little. She bit her lip and continued, “Until Kristoff and Sven both get back, I want that stall empty and to be cleaned and maintained as well as all of the other stalls in this stable, is that clear?”

“Yes, your highness.” the stable boy said.

“Good. Now good day to you.” she huffed and turned to go, but her dress was caught on the stable. Anna looked down and scowled, jerking it loose and ripping the hem. She caught eye of the stable boy looking, but he quickly went back to his normal duties as Anna marched back up to the castle and opened the doors, on her way to her room.

“Good morning, Princess Anna.” she heard Henrik say as he passed her on the stairs.

“Morning.” she mumbled. He was just about the _last_ person she wanted to see at this moment. Apparently the auburn haired man couldn't take a hint as he began to walk with her, keeping up with her brisk pace.

“How- how are you this morning?” he asked, wanting to be polite and not mention her appearance. Anna knew he was just being nice with not mentioning how she looked, so she kept walking.

“Fine.” she said quickly as she neared her room.

“Oh. Well that's good. I'm doing well this morning. How would you feel about-” she heard him say before she cut him off by slamming her door in his face.

She took the key from her bedside table and quickly turned the lock, knowing he would know better than to come in a lady's room uninvited but she wasn't taking any chances.

“Anna! There you are!” she heard a disembodied voice say. Olaf's head rolled out from under her bed and rejoined with the rest of his snowy body that came running from her wardrobe. Olaf's twig arms reached down and placed his head back on, turning it a few times on the top of his body until he got it perfectly back on.

“Ugh. That's better. Oh!” he said, taking note of Anna's appearance. “Um... Anna? Where have you-”

“I look terrible, I know.” she said, going over to her vanity and looking at her hair. It wasn't too atrocious, she must have not moved very much sleeping in the hay bale. She picked stray hay straws from her hair as Olaf came up on the desk to help her. “Thank you, Olaf.”

“What happened? Did you fall asleep in the stables or something?”

Anna nodded. “That's exactly what happened.”

“What? Why'd you sleep out there?” he asked, concerned.

“Because.”

“Well, because why?”

Anna could feel herself getting more irritated as she grabbed her brush and ran it through her hair, roughly smoothing out the tangles.

“Just because, Olaf. You wouldn't understand.”

“Why wouldn't I? Just tell me, I'm worried!” the snowman shrieked, “Why, Anna?”

What happened next seemed involuntary to Anna as she never expected to act like this towards anyone, let alone innocent little Olaf. “Because Kristoff is missing and nobody's doing a DAMN THING ABOUT IT!” she screamed, flinging her brush across the room and getting up, crossing over to her bed where she angrily flung her pillows off the bed.

“Anna! Calm down-”

“Don't tell me to calm down, Olaf!” she yelled at the snowman as she smashed a pillow with her fist then slammed her face into it, screaming into the pillow. Suddenly, she felt a little weak in the knees and dropped to the ground beside her bed, her face still in the pillow.

Olaf rushed over as quickly as he could and put a twig hand on Anna's shoulder, which he now noticed was shaking. She was crying. And she was crying _bad._

“Oh Olaf.... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...” she sobbed into the pillow, slumping down onto the floor. Olaf went around and sat beside her, gently rubbing the top of her head.

“Aw Anna, don't cry.” he told her, “It's gonna be all right. It's not like I haven't been screamed at before.”

“I know... but I shouldn't have taken it out on you...” she sniffed, wrapping her arms around the pillow as she sobbed even harder.

“Well, look on the bright side, you can't really hurt me if you hit me with anything by accident. I have no bones to break. Or skin. Or muscle. Or... any of that.” he assured her. Anna laughed a little through her tears.

“It's just... Elsa cares so much about Hans's dumb old brother and she doesn't give a damn about Kristoff and Sven.”

“Oh Anna, that's not true. You know she adores Sven. And... other Sven.” Olaf said.

“Then why hasn't she sent out any search parties? Anything? I mean... she's the queen.” Anna replied, lifting her face from the pillow, her eyes rubbed red from crying. Olaf waddled over to her vanity and brought over a frilly hankie and handed to her. Anna tool it gratefully and wiped her eyes before blowing her nose rather noisily. “Thanks.”

“Of course. And... you are the Princess, right?”

“Right.”

“So... can't the Princess have some sort of say in these sorts of things?” Olaf asked, “I mean, I'm just a snowman but your sister's the boss and you're in line to be Queen after her, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, wouldn't that give you some sort of power to do something about people looking for Kristoff and Sven?”

Anna thought about it for a moment and amazingly... Olaf was right. Her sister was the Queen, sure, but Anna had power too. She was royalty, too. Surely he could organize a search party for them even when Elsa wouldn't.

“You know... you're right, Olaf.” she said.

“I am?”

“Yeah. That's what I'm gonna do.” she explained, “If Elsa won't do her Queenly duty and do something about this, then I'm gonna do something about it!”

“All right!” Olaf grinned, happy to see the confident side of Anna again. Anna got up and put the pillow back on the bed, then went over to get the others she had thrown off and her brush.

“I'll get myself ready then go into town and tell everyone that I need their help and surely people will agree to help. Everyone in town loves Kristoff and Sven!” she rambled on.

“Right!” Olaf agreed.

“And then I'll get some people to go out with me and help me look around and see if maybe we can find something they left behind or something. I mean, I know Kristoff's really careful about losing things but it doesn't hurt to check, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And if we find something then maybe we can find some sort of trail that can lead us to Kristoff and Sven! We could find them today maybe!” she squeaked. Sure, it was wishful thinking, but Anna had always been the optimistic one.

She dashed behind her shade and stripped off her ripped dress and picked a new one from the closet, slipping it on and coming out, stopping to fix the rest of her hair, not even bothering to braid it. Her thoughts turned to the portrait in the hall of her, Elsa, Olaf, Sven and Kristoff that she had received for her birthday.

“I could go to the artist in town and have him draw a picture of Kristoff and Sven, like he did with our painting in the hall and then post the pictures all over town and on the next town over and on trees and all that. Someone's bound to have seen him!” she said.

“Let's do it, come on!” Olaf agreed, suddenly very excited. Anna went over to the door, unlocked and opened it right as Elsa was about to knock.

“Oh. Hi.” she said awkwardly.

“Hi...” Elsa said back, “Um... are you all right? I heard you came in a little upset?”

“Er... no. I'm okay.” Anna lied, “Who told you that?” _Henrik._

“Well, Henrik did but... I wanted to see for myself. If... you were okay.” Elsa explained.

“Oh. Well, I'm fine. I'm okay.”

“Okay, good.” Elsa sighed, relieved. “Where are you going today?”

“I'm gonna just... y'know... look around town and... stuff.” Anna lied again.

“Okay well, how about some breakfast?”

“Sounds good. I'm starved.” Anna said, walking down the stairs next to Elsa as Olaf followed.

“So... I'm very sorry about last night. I've been thinking about it a lot.” Elsa said delicately, “I... guess my liking Henrik sort of got in the way and clouded my thoughts.”

“It's okay, Elsa-” Anna began, feeling better now that Elsa actually admitted she was wrong.

“No, I- I was being selfish. And a bad Queen. And a lousy big sister...” Elsa trailed off.

“You're not a lousy Queen or big sister. Everybody makes mistakes.” Anna said, putting a hand on Elsa's shoulder. “Actually, I have a plan on how we can fix the problem. That's what I was going to do after breakfast today. You want to help me?”

Elsa raised an eyebrow. “What sort of plan? And... which problem?”

“The 'Kristoff and Sven are missing' problem. I was going to go down to the artist and have him make some posters that we can post around other towns to see if anyone's seen them.” Anna explained.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“And I was going to see if I could round up some people to go out and look for them.”

“How do you know they would help you?” Elsa asked.

“Well, Kristoff and Sven are pretty well liked. I think most of the people in town would want to have them back.”

“I suppose it can't hurt.” Elsa shrugged, “The sooner we find them, the better. But I'm sure they're all right.”

Anna sighed, “I hope so.”

***

After breakfast, Elsa retired to her study to sort out trade with Henrik as Anna took Olaf into town with her to look for Kristoff. By noon, she had a few people recruited to help her look for Kristoff later on in the day, after the posters were done. A few hours later, she picked up the posters and went for her horse. She rounded up the searchers at the stable and told them what to do.

“Go as far as you can, but make sure you can make it back before it gets too late. All of you have lanterns, but don't stay out too late in the dark. We can search again tomorrow. Everyone meet back here and tell me what you find.”

“Your highness, what if we manage to find the boy and the reindeer?” a man asked.

“Bring them back here as quickly as you can. If I'm not here, bring them in anyway and send someone to get my sister as soon as possible.”

“All right.”

Anna turned her horse towards the gate and gave him an urge. “Come on, let's go find him.”

 


	6. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kristoff tries to figure a way to escape; Anna speaks to some friends concerning the situation with Kristoff and Sven.

The Duke's men exited the room with the food plate, all that was left being bones. They had stayed in the room, taunting Kristoff as he hungrily sucked the rest of the meat off of the bones. The two also allowed Sven to eat a little, taking the ropes from his muzzle. Kristoff had to give Sven a stare after he'd been released due to the fact that he saw defiance in Sven's face, indicating that he wanted to bite these two and make it hurt.

Before the two men had left, they went over and muzzled Sven once more, allowing Kristoff to take a sharp piece of bone that had snapped off and hide it in his sleeve. Then began the long, painful process of being tied up yet again in which his arms were forced behind his back and tied just as tight as they were before, if not tighter, Kristoff had lost the ability to tell because each time his wrists were retied, the sores forming hurt even more. Then came the rope that bound his arms to his sides, which was always an awkward and uncomfortable situation to handle. Lastly came the gag, which Kristoff was unsure of why they even needed it. Even if he did scream for someone, nobody was out this way and would hear him. He guessed it was just Hans wanting to make him as uncomfortable as possible and not wanting to hear him speak to comfort Sven, which made Kristoff hate him even more. He'd only seen the poor reindeer look as scared as he did then a few other times in their lives and it was disturbing to see such a brave animal look so frightened.

As the men exited, Kristoff lay on the floor beside Sven, listening for the lock to click and their footsteps to retreat. After a few minutes, he took the sharp bone from his sleeve and fumbled for the knot that held the ropes tight against his body. After what seemed like forever, he finally found it and carefully wiggled the bone into the knot and pushed, loosening it a little. He then began to move the bone back and forth in an attempt to cut the knot. After another long few minutes, the knot came loose and the grip around his body loosened. Kristoff then wiggled his shoulders and arms around as, slowly, the ropes began to fall from his torso. Sven noticed the ropes falling and sat up, whining softly. Kristoff looked over and tried to tell him to stay quiet, but realized his mouth was still gagged.

After the ropes around his body came loose, Kristoff managed to get his wrists from behind his back to the front of him by sticking his bound legs between his arms, moving his wrists to where he could see them. He found the bone again and used them to loosen the ropes that bound his sore wrists and, after a few minutes, had his wrists free. With his hands now at his disposal, he untied his ankles then looked over at Sven and went over and pulled the ropes from Sven's snout. Sven snorted a little when the ropes came off, causing Kristoff to bring a finger to his gagged mouth, telling Sven not to make any noise. He reached up and pulled the gag off his mouth and petted Sven's head, hugging the reindeer around the neck.

“Shhh, buddy... it's okay...”

Sven whined and nuzzled Kristoff, gently licking his cheek, which still contained the cut from where he'd been hit, now scabbed over with dried blood. Kristoff returned the gesture, kissing the reindeer on the top of the head and scratching behind his ears.

“Good boy.” he said in a voice so quietly it could hardly be considered a whisper. He took Sven's face in his hands and looked into his matching brown eyes, “Sven, I'll be right back, okay? I need to leave you in here because if I take you with me, they'll hear you because you're so big, okay?”

Sven nodded his head.

“Okay, I'm gonna go out there and see if I can find a way out. You stay here, buddy, I'll be right back, I promise.” Kristoff assured him, kissing his head again. Sven licked his hand. Kristoff took the chicken bone and slowly inserted it into the door's lock, turning it until eventually, he heard it click. He put his ear to the door and heard nobody outside.

It was clear.

He slowly opened the door and silently stepped out, closing the door behind him. As he closed the door, he turned, going down the hallway to the front room. He stopped just before the front, hearing Hans and the Duke in the room.

_Damn._

He turned back and crept down the hall. There was a window in a nearby room he could use. He made his way into the room and saw the window, which he quickly opened, stepping outside onto the snow. It was falling heavily now as Kristoff made it out, looking around the cabin for any of Hans or the Duke's men. He saw none.

Quickly, he began to run, dodging various trees, his face cold without his scarf to cover it and his hands cold without his mittens. The snowflakes hit him in the eyes, causing them to water. As he ran, his thoughts raced back to Anna and Elsa. Surely, Hans would come after him when he discovered he was gone and that could distract him from going to Arendelle.

Or maybe Hans would just assume he'd die and go to Arendelle anyway. So... should he try to go to Arendelle? No... it was too far away without Sven... he couldn't leave him. He stopped to catch his breath.

_Where do I go?_

He could always go home. Not to Arendelle, but to the Valley where the trolls were. It was far without Sven and without the rest of his winter gear. He'd freeze to death before he got there. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by voices...

“The blond one's gone!”

“There's footprints leading out this way!”

Kristoff's brown eyes became two sizes bigger as his heart leaped into his throat.

_Damn, damn, damn._ Why hadn't he covered his tracks? Kristoff turned away from the voices and ran in a different direction, hoping to loose them. He ran for what seemed like forever, hearing the men calling to each other behind him. The fear of what they would do to him made him run even faster. Sure, he'd felt a lot of pain from a lot of people through his life, but this situation was by far the worst. The next thing he heard nearly made his heart stop.

“There he is!” he heard, his heart lurching into his throat yet again, causing him to choke. He ran faster, the snowflakes stinging his eyes. Blinded by the water in his eyes, he lost direction as he ran and suddenly, _WHAM._

Something hard connected with his jaw, knocking him off his feet. Kristoff rubbed his jaw and felt blood on his lip. He must have bitten it on the way down. He looked up to see Hans just as the Prince kicked him hard in the side. Kristoff squirmed away, grabbing his ankle and pulling it with all of the strength he had, knocking the Prince down in the snow where Kristoff flung himself on top of him, Hans' hands pushing at his face and throat as Kristoff struggled to get his hands around Hans' throat. Eventually, he made it, squeezing the Prince's windpipe as hard as he could, making the Prince choke and gag as he pushed at Kristoff's face and eventually found a handful of his shaggy, blond hair and gave it a good yank. Kristoff screamed, but did not let go as Hans pulled his head closer and yanked harder on his hair, which only made Kristoff squeeze his throat tighter. As angry tears of adrenaline and from the snow fell from Kristoff's eyes, he could feel Hans beginning to give up as his face began turning red, then a shade of purple that scared him to look at, but he still continued until, before he knew it, something hit him hard in the head again.

Then everything went dark.

***

Hans gasped for air as the peasant's hands loosened from his throat. How had the bastard even gotten out of his room?

“Are you all right, boy?” he heard the Duke ask as his hazy vision returned to normal. He took in a few deep breaths and looked down at Kristoff, out cold with a stream of crimson blood coming from his forehead where the Duke's right-hand man had hit him. He was definitely out for sure.

“I'm fine. Thank you.” Hans choked out, “Get him back to his room, now.”

“What should we do when we get there, your highness?” the Duke's right-hand man asked. Hans scowled down at Kristoff and turned his head with his foot.

“Bind and gag him as you did before. Even tighter this time. And then tie him to the wall like you did his pet. He wants to act like an animal, then we'll treat him like one.” he said.

One thing was for sure, now he was going to make every moment of Kristoff's life even more of a living hell then he had before.

***

The sun had begun to set over the North Mountain as Anna continued her search for any sign of Kristoff and Sven. So far, she managed to put up a good number of posters in the neighboring towns and even asked a few people if they had seen Kristoff or Sven. They said yes, but not recently. The air began to blow crisper than back home where Anna was and she knew it would be a long journey home. But she had Olaf to keep her company, who had been holding onto her back as they searched. If she traveled a little further, she would hit the snow of the North Mountain and the northern most part of Norway, where Kristoff usually went to get ice. In order to make the trip there, she would've had to left much earlier.

“I don't think we'll find anything else here, Olaf.” she said sadly.

“Wait, doesn't Kristoff's family live kind of close to here?” Olaf asked, remembering where they were from when Kristoff had rushed Anna back to Arendelle after her heart froze. Anna's face brightened.

“Well... yes. I guess they do!” she squealed, her cheerful attitude suddenly turning more serious, “But if we go see them, we're gonna have to tell them, Olaf. And I have a feeling they won't like it.”

Olaf shook his head. “Of course they won't like it, but maybe they can help!”

Anna looked in the direction of where the valley was and looked back at Olaf. “Hold on, we're gonna go pretty fast.” she warned.

Olaf took off his carrot nose and put it in Anna's bag to keep it from blowing away.

“Ready!” he told her as he grabbed onto her waist. Anna urged her horse and took off towards the valley.

After a while of riding, she made it to the valley and got off the horse, walking with Olaf to the middle of the valley, all of them surrounded by rocks.

“Um... hi everyone.” Anna called awkwardly, “It's me, Princess Anna. And Olaf. We um... we need to talk to you all about something.”

Without warning, the rocks began to shift as they all began to roll towards Anna and Olaf. Suddenly, they all popped out and looked up at Anna and smiled.

“It's Princess Anna!” she heard Kristoff and Sven's surrogate mother, Bulda cry out as the rest of the trolls cheered happily.

“Yes, yes, it's me... now stop... stop please...” Anna tried as trolls began to hug her legs and grab her arms.

“She's just as beautiful as ever!”

“And she had a birthday too! She's even more beautiful now!”

“I love your dress, Princess!”

Anna tried to smile, but was to worried. “T-thank you... but, guys I need to talk to you. Something serious has happened. It's about Kristoff and Sven.”

That shut them up immediately as each troll's smile suddenly turned to a worried expression as they all sat down in unison. Bulda and her husband, Cliff approached Anna and looked up at her as she bent down to their level.

“Princess Anna? What's happened to our boys?” Cliff asked, holding his wife's hand.

Anna sighed, “They went out on an ice harvesting trip last week and were due back three days ago. They were supposed to only be gone three days and... they've been gone a whole week now and nobody's seen them. They... haven't been here, haven't they?”

“No, dear.” Bulda said sadly, “The last time we seen the boys was the last time he came here with you and your sister.”

Anna ran her hands through her hair and grasped her forehead. She then realized that Kristoff and Sven were truly missing. She felt tears coming, but held them back.

“Then... they must really be missing... something must have really happened to them...” she mumbled as Olaf patted her on the back. She heard another troll roll up next to her and looked over to see Kristoff's surrogate grandfather, Pabbie, unroll.

“There might be a way we can find him, Anna.” he said. Anna's heart skipped a beat.

“How?” she asked.

“Do you have something to belongs to him with you?”

Anna reached into her bag and pulled out Kristoff's old, ratty tunic. It still smelled just like him. She handed it to Pabbie who looked it over.

“Give me tonight, I'll see if I can find some sort of spell in order to locate him. It will be a stretch, but I'll do my best.” the old troll told her. Without thinking, Anna grabbed him and hugged him, straining to pick him up.

“Oh, thank you so much, Grand Pabbie.” she said, grateful for some sort of good news.

***

Hans sat on the chair inside the cabin, looking over at the roaring fire. He'd recovered from his recent scuffle with Kristoff earlier. The peasant lay unconscious still, gagged and bound in his room with the reindeer, now leashed to the wall with someone watching him at all times. His and the Duke's men had not been happy about that, but it needed to be done. Clearly Kristoff was more clever than he gave him credit for.

“Prince Hans!” he heard one of his men cry as the door rushed open. Hans looked over towards the door, not getting up from his spot.

“Is there a problem?”

The man rushed over to Hans, snow covering his clothes as he unfolded a piece of paper and handed it to Hans.

“Look at this.”

Hans unfolded the paper to see a painted picture of both Kristoff and his reindeer that read.

HAVE YOU SEEN ME?

KRISTOFF BJORGMAN

OFFICIAL ICE MASTER AND DELIVERER

HAIR COLOR: BLOND

EYE COLOR: BROWN

LAST SEEN WEARING DARK GRAY SHIRT OVER A DARK BLUE SWEATER, BURGANDY SASH, BLACK PANTS, POINTED TOE SNOW BOOTS AND BLACK HAT

 

SVEN

KRISTOFF'S REINDEER

HAIR COLOR: BROWN AND GRAY

EYE COLOR: BROWN

LAST SEEN WEARING A BURGANDY HARNESS

 

ANY INFORMATION REGARDING THOSE MENTIONED ABOVE SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY TOLD TO QUEEN ELSA OR PRINCESS ANNA OF ARENDELLE YOU WILL BE REWARDED ACCORDINGLY

 

Hans was quiet with anger. He tore the posters in half four times and threw the pieces into the fire as he stood up.

“Tell the Duke to ready the ship in the nearest harbor. It's not safe for us here anymore. We're leaving in the morning.

 


	7. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna worries about Kristoff and Sven; Kristoff wonders what will become of him and Sven

Anna hadn't slept well. The thought of Kristoff possibly being found excited her to no end. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. She had to do something. She got up from her bed and lit a candle and sat down at her desk. She took some paper and a plume and began to write a letter to her cousin, whom she'd come to know during Elsa's coronation, Rapunzel, who was the Lost Princess of Corona. She'd been wondering if somehow, Kristoff had made it over to Corona, but she doubted it. Still, she sat down and began to write. It couldn't hurt.

_Dear Rapunzel,_

_I hope you're doing well in Corona. I hope Eugene is having fun being a prince. I'm sorry to say not everything is great here. That prince from the Southern Isles that tried to kill Elsa and I? His brother is here to try and patch things up and Elsa really likes him but I don't trust him at all. I really don't want Elsa to get hurt. I've tried telling her, but she doesn't want to listen to reason. Any advice on how to make her listen?_

_Another thing, the boy I mentioned in my last few letters, Kristoff? The ice guy who helped me out with Elsa? Him and and his reindeer, Sven are missing. They went on a trip to get ice for their business and were due back three days ago, which will be even longer by the time this gets to you. If you or Eugene or anyone in Corona has seen them, would you please, please, please let me or Elsa know as soon as possible? I'll put a picture of him and Sven with this letter. Please help me find them if you can... I'm really worried about them._

_Love you, take care and smooch Eugene for me,_

_Your cousin,_

_Princess Anna of Arendelle_

She folded the letter and took the posters of Kristoff and Sven and put them in an envelope. She would give it to the letter in the morning when she went to the valley. She took her candle and went over to the bookshelf, still restless and picked out a book on her family heritage. After reading the same paragraph over and over, trying to comprehend the sophisticated style of writing, Anna gave up and chose a lighter book, one about fairy tales and cracked it open. She read a few stories before her eyes became heavy and she eventually fell back to sleep.

As she slept, she saw Kristoff and Sven, running down a mountain. But it wasn't the fun kind of running...

They were running for their _lives._

The two were running down a mountain as a monstrous avalanche chased them both. Sven was fast, faster than he'd ever been before, but before Anna knew it, the two of them were gone, swallowed up by the snow.

Anna gasped and sat up in bed, her face slick with sweat. She threw off her covers and got up and made her way to the washroom and splashed water on her face. She looked in the mirror and took a few deep breaths. She wished she could run down the hall to Kristoff's room and find him there, sleeping soundly like a child. He slept like a troll, like a _rock._ Whenever Anna had to rouse him, she always had to sit there shaking him for minutes upon minutes on end until he finally grunted and turned over, going back to sleep.

She walked out of the washroom and down to Kristoff's room and pushed open the door. It was how he left it. Not clean, but definitely not too messy. Kristoff seemed tidy enough. Anna remembered when they'd first met, he'd scolded her for putting her feet on his freshly lacquered sled and then put a nice spit shine on it. He had a few articles of his clothes, mostly summer clothes laying about and some books he'd bought with his earnings. Surprisingly, Kristoff was a big reader, he just never had enough money to buy himself books. Anna looked over at his bed, which was partially made up. She sighed and threw back his sheets and crawled in, throwing the sheets over her.

She laid her head down on his pillow and sniffed. It smelled just like him, except when he was clean. It was a half clean, half musky smell that only Kristoff could pull off. She hugged the pillow to her and buried her face into it, warm tears falling from her face as she cried silently into his pillow. The dream had scared her so bad because that could have been what happened to them...

But she wasn't giving up. Not by a long shot.

***

 

Kristoff awoke to someone pulling him to his feet and grunted as they stood him up against the wall, slipping a black hood over his head and face, tightening it with a rope.

“Don't you make a sound or you're gonna get it.” he heard one of Hans' men say as Kristoff felt his body lifted up, mumbling in confusion underneath the gag as the man slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He felt the man begin to walk, his steps heavy, each step driving his shoulder into Kristoff's stomach. He tried in vain to see through the bag over his head, but no light was let in at all.

He wondered about Sven. And where they were going.

After what seemed like forever, he was finally sat down rather roughly on a hard surface that felt like wood. Kristoff strained to listen and heard waves rushing.

They were on a ship. But where were they going? He heard rustling and the familiar sound of Sven grunting, trying to get away.

“Hold him!”

“I'm trying!”

“We've got to get him below deck, then put his friend with him! Quickly, before the boss gets here!”

Kristoff strained against the ropes, which had been tied even tighter if that was even possible since his escape attempt. Looking back on the escape, he regretted it immensely. All it had given him was another bump on the head and another cut on his forehead.

As he heard Sven depart with the men, he felt his body lifted again, being careful not to make a sound as he was harshly carried down a set of stairs. The small bit of light he saw through the fabric of the bag over his head disappeared as he realized he was below the ship. He heard hinges squeak as he was laid down on the hard floor of the ship. He felt a hand encircle one of his bound ankles and a shackle close around it.

Clearly he was in some sort of cell, not going anywhere. Wonderful.

After whoever shackled him to the wall was finished, they untied the bag and removed it from his head. Kristoff blinked a few times, adjusting to the light.

“Going on a trip, smelly.” one of the Duke's men teased, mussing Kristoff's hair. Kristoff cursed at him under the gag as he exited the cell, locking it behind him.

“Now you behave yourself, you hear?” the man asked. Kristoff rolled his eyes and mumbled a reply that got lost in the material over his mouth. The man smirked and left the room, closing the door and leaving Kristoff in the dark once more, but a little light shined in from the small window at the rear of the room. Kristoff looked over and saw Sven in a cell next to him, lying down, his eyes sad. All he wanted to do was comfort the poor creature that he'd spent most of his life with, to tell him everything was going to be okay. Surely Anna and Elsa were looking for them.

But what were they going to do now? Anna and Elsa would never know that they were leaving... maybe they were going to the Southern Isles? No, that would be too easy, and Hans didn't seem too eager on returning home. Maybe it was Weselton? He hoped not... he laid his head down and closed his eyes. Maybe it was all a dream and he would wake up safe and sound in his nice, warm bed that Anna had given him at the castle. Or maybe he'd wake up curled up next to Sven in the stable after singing him to sleep. After a few minutes, he realized it wasn't all a nightmare. Well, it was, but not the kind he actually _wanted_ to have at the moment. He sighed again, this time his breath shaking a little as he realized that he might not ever see those he loved again. With the next few breaths, they shook more and more as Kristoff finally let it all go. He didn't want to let it all go, but he had no choice. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was actually more sensitive then he led on and the weight of the situation made that abundantly clear as Kristoff shut his eyes tight and tears fell from them, running down his cheek, one of them into his cut and burning from the salt. He lay in the cell, as quiet as he could be not because he was afraid of what Hans and his men would do to him if they heard him making noise, but because he didn't want them to see him at his worst. And he had just begun to really show Anna how he felt about her... and he had a healthy relationship with Elsa as well. Now, he was losing that and it hurt him more than anything. He'd lost his parents, been on his own, been kicked around by various people, been made to eat scraps from the street and walked around without friends until Sven, but this... this was the absolute lowest. He pictured the portrait of all of them, his new family, hanging in the hall. How happy they all were. It made more tears fall. He shook as he tried to quiet his sobs.

He'd been broken, and he had no idea how to fix himself.

And it terrified him.

 


	8. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna takes action; Hans pays Kristoff a visit

Anna awoke the next morning in Kristoff's bed, still clutching his pillow. For a moment, she swore he was there with her, but it was only his smell in the room. The musky yet sort of cleaner smell that he now produced instead of the reindeer one. She grabbed a fistful of his sheets and squeezed, wishing she knew where he was.

It was gray outside, looking as if it might rain. A small rumble of thunder brought back a memory of Kristoff. It was right after he'd moved in, having been so grateful for the new bed. Kristoff was used to sleeping in the dark, but for some reason, was scared to sleep alone in his room that first night. Anna couldn't help but turn a little red with laughter. Kristoff blushed his usual pink color and had crossed his arms, pouting at her like he did when he was grumpy. Then, she'd thought about it, being alone in a room in a new place where suits of armor are in the hallway, weird shadows get cast on the wall and he didn't have Sven with him, who he always had next to him when he slept. Anna sympathized and then apologized for laughing and agreed to stay that night in his room until he fell asleep.

She remembered it well. It was storming badly that night, the thunder being very loud. She looked over at Kristoff, his eyes wide as he tried his best not to show fear. Typical man. A large thunderclap caused him to gasp, jump and pull his sheets up over his head like a scared child. Anna couldn't help but smile. Seeing a rough and tough no-nonsense independent man like Kristoff get so frightened over a little thunderstorm was sort of funny. She covered her smile as he peeked out from his sheets, only the top of his head and his big, brown eyes visible as he asked, “Is it always this loud?”

Anna chuckled a little and shifted in the chair they kept in the room. “Yeah, thunderstorms get pretty loud here. Any particular reason why you're so... scared?”

“I am not scared, for your information.” Kristoff retorted as another thunderclap sounded, causing him to curl up in the sheets and sigh, “Okay fine. You win. It's just... sometimes Sven and I had to sleep outside in these things and... I don't know, I guess it's just bad memories is all.” he confessed as his big, beautiful brown orbs shifted around shyly. He still peeked out from the sheets over at Anna. “Please don't laugh.”

Anna didn't laugh, she did smile though as she dragged her chair over, it making an ugly squeal as it scraped the floor. She sat next to Kristoff and ran her fingers through his messy, blond hair, which seemed to calm him down as he closed his eyes like a dog being petted. “It'll be okay. It's just a storm. It can't hurt you in here. You're totally safe.” she assured him.

“Thanks.” he mumbled, his voice muffled by the sheets. Anna looked out the window at the rain pelting the glass as she continued to pet Kristoff's head. The rain really was kind of pretty now that she looked at it.

“Hey, Kristoff-” she asked, but looked over. He was sleeping like a baby. Anna smiled and kissed the top of his head. “Goodnight, Kristoff.” she said before she left the room.

The memory pained her, though brought her some comfort at the same time. She missed him terribly. The answer to whether or not he could be found burned at her like an inferno.

She had to know as soon as possible. She got up and dressed, fixing her hair in no time since lately she'd not been turning in her sleep too much and quietly made her way down the hall, everyone else still asleep. She made her way to the kitchen and picked up a bagel on her way to the stable for her horse.

Elsa wasn't going to like this, but she didn't care.

She had to find him.

***

Hans made his way down to the brig, where Kristoff and his reindeer were locked up, being watched by the Duke's men. As he approached the cell, he saw Kristoff was curled up on the floor, asleep. He made small noises as he slept, but the noises were muffled by the gag. Hans saw as Kristoff began to stir a little, the noises becoming a little louder now, though still muffled.

He must be dreaming.

He'd almost managed to kill Hans back in the woods and if hadn't been for the Duke's men, he would have probably choked him to death. He'd found Kristoff's key to escape, a sharp chicken bone, jammed in the door lock at the cabin. Since then, he ordered that Kristoff be fed during his meals, leaving him bound still. No chances to get any more bones to try and free himself. Hans watched intensely as Kristoff's muffled noises became louder and more panicked. Oh yes, he was dreaming all right.

And it wasn't good.

***

In the dream, Kristoff was running through the snow, just as he was before with Hans, but something was different. He heard howling behind him and turned to see a pack of wolves snarling, foam coming from their moistened lips. Kristoff turned around and ran, the wolves giving chase. As he ran through the snow, the wind stinging his face and eyes, he heard an arrow fly by his head, narrowly missing him.

“There he is!”

“Shoot him!”

Kristoff kept running despite the cold burning his face, trying to keep out of the wolves' reach and dodge the arrows. Suddenly, a sharp pain struck through his leg, causing him to yelp in pain as he fell into the snow. As he tried to move, pain shot through his leg as he felt the spot where the pain began. His hand came back a dark crimson, indicating blood. He looked down at the arrow stuck in his leg. As he heard the wolves and men approaching, he took off his sash and bit down on it as he broke the arrow in two. He took a deep breath and pulled the other side of the arrow, causing immense pain in his leg as he managed to pull it out. He took his sash from his mouth and wrapped it tight around the hole in his leg, wincing in pain as he tied it off.

Suddenly, he heard a low growling and looked up just in time to see a wolf, it's teeth bared as it dove for his throat.

“Mmmphh!” Kristoff called out into his gag as he awoke from the dream. His eyes wide, he looked around, realizing he was still in the cell in the deck of the ship and not about to have his throat torn out. He looked over to see Hans leaning against the wall, the Duke's two men seated at a table.

“Have a nice sleep?” Hans asked, knowing full and well Kristoff couldn't answer. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the cell. “Like the chain?”

Kristoff looked down and saw the shackle around his ankle and followed the chain to see that it was bolted to the wall. Looked like he wasn't going anywhere. He looked back at Hans and furrowed his brow angrily.

“Don't look at me, you're the one who had to go and try and escape on me. We did warn you nothing good would come of that. Looks like you're just as stubborn as everyone says.”

Kristoff shifted uncomfortably as the ropes around his wrists rubbed the sores. His body had begun to cramp up from being bound so tightly for so long, but he couldn't let Hans see any sign of weakness in him. Knowing him, he'd use it against him.

“Uncomfortable?” Hans asked, expecting an answer. Kristoff said nothing. “What's that? Didn't hear you.”

“Mmfff.” Kristoff said. _Yes._

“I thought so. Don't worry, we're almost to where we're going, I'm sure I'll find a nice, comfortable spot for you and your pet there. But for now, you just hang in there, ice boy.” Hans smirked as he got up. “Oh, and you might want to work on your diction. You tend to mumble quite a bit whenever I speak to you. Most people don't like that sort of thing.” he taunted as he left.

Kristoff growled into his gag, the hate for Hans burning inside him. He _wished_ he'd broken his neck when he had the chance... maybe then he wouldn't be in this mess. But that was highly doubtful.

He laid back down on his side, listening to the waves crash against the side of the ship. Wherever they were going, he was sure it was better than this.

Or he could be wrong.

***

As Hans made his way back up to the deck, he was approached by one of the Duke's men.

“How did it go?” he asked.

“Were you listening?” Hans demanded. The man shook his head. Hans had a feeling he was lying, after all, the Duke was not very trusting and had to go back to Weselton for “diplomatic purposes”. Hans knew he just didn't feel like hanging around with them anymore, but he didn't care. That was the Duke's problem.

“Whatever you say. Get down there and get our prisoner ready. We're nearly there.” Hans commanded. The man nodded and made his way downstairs.

***

 

Kristoff looked over as he heard the cell's door open and saw one of the Duke's men heading towards him with the black hood again. He tried to squirm away, mumbling in effort into the gag, his words getting lost as the man grabbed him and forced the hood over his head, slinging him over his shoulder yet again, disorienting Kristoff.

“Don't you worry, ice boy. You'll be back to laying around sooner than you think.” the man said. Kristoff felt sick, either from being tossed around like he was nothing or from what the man had said. _Were they going to kill him?_

He tried in vain to get his hands from behind his back, but the ropes around his arms and his wrists rubbed against the sores and burned like hell and made him feel even sicker. He didn't want to just let them toss him around, but what else could he do? Feeling helpless was something he wasn't accustomed to. All his life, no matter the situation, he managed to have some sort of control over the situation, no matter how bad. This time, all of his control had been stripped away. His ability to fight back, negotiate and even comfort his best friend. All of them were gone.

And it made him sick.

 


	9. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna extend her search for Kristoff; Kristoff finds himself in a new place

The sun had begun to try and come out as Anna approached the Valley. She dismounted her horse and went to the center of the Valley, among the trolls and called out, “It's me, Anna. I'm back.”

She felt the ground tremble as the trolls rolled towards her and unrolled all at once, looking up at her.

“Have you heard anything about Sven and Kristoff?”

“Are they okay?”

“Please say nobody hurt them.”

Anna held out her arms to quiet them, “I haven't heard anything yet... where's Grand Pabbie?” she asked as the old troll rolled out in front of her, carrying Kristoff's tattered shirt. He did not look pleased.

“Well?”

Pabbie closed his eyes and shook his head, gripping the tunic in his hands. “I am sorry, Anna. The spell did not work... I found no sign of Kristoff or Sven... I truly am sorry...” the troll said, a tear forming in his eye. Anna bent down and put a hand on his shoulder, knowing that if it was painful for her, it was worse for him. These were his grandchildren they were talking about and not knowing where they were or if they were in danger must have been the worst feeling in the world.

“It's okay, Grand Pabbie...”

“I am so worried, Anna.” he said, taking her hand in his, “I did manage to get some sort of sign though...”

Anna's heart skipped a beat. “What sort of sign?”

Grand Pabbie looked up into her eyes and told her, “Kristoff and Sven are in great danger.”

Anna swallowed hard. “But... they're alive?”

Pabbie nodded.

“I have to find them.” Anna said, getting up from the ground and taking Kristoff's tunic with her. She started walking towards her horse.

“Anna, be careful. If they're in danger, imagine what could happen to you.” Pabbie called after her. She turned back and looked at him.

“I don't care. I'm going to find them, one way or the other. Thank you for your help, Grand Pabbie.” she said before starting back towards her horse and riding away from the valley, leaving the trolls staring in shock and confusion.

***

As Anna rode back to Arendelle, she could only think of Kristoff and Sven. They were alive, clearly, but she had to find them and find them fast. Her thoughts buzzed around like a swarm of angry hornets, allowing her to miss the fact that she was being watched. She hadn't taken notice of the footsteps behind her, but was surprised when her horse jerked to a stop.

“Whoa, what is it, girl?” she asked the animal. The horse whinnied anxiously. Anna looked around and saw nothing.

“Why, 'ello there, little lady.”

Anna turned her head to see a slender man, clad in dark clothes with long, greasy brown hair grinning at her.

“Um... hello.”

“Where you off to all by yer lonesome?” the man asked, his accent strong as he stepped towards her horse.

“Just into town is all. Nowhere in particular.”

“Well, which one?”

“Beg pardon?” Anna asked. The man shook his head with a smirk.

“Which one is it? To town or nowhere in particular?”

Anna felt a chill run up her spine. She hadn't brought anything to defend herself with... dumb move there. But she did have her fists and apparently she was very good at punching people.

“Can't it be both?” she asked the man bravely, not showing any signs of fear. The man tsked and stroked her horse, making the animal snort nervously. Anna touched the man's hand. It was rough and calloused over. “Please don't touch the horse.”

“It's a beautiful animal, love,” the man said, “Not as beautiful as you though.”

Anna chuckled uncomfortably. “If you're trying to reel me in, it's not working. Sorry.” she said. The man grinned.

“Ah, come on darlin', don't be a prude.”

Anna looked at the ground to see more shadows approaching. She looked and saw two other men, both of them large, six foot men who looked like they could eat her, Kristoff and Elsa for dinner and still be hungry.

“Friends of yours?” she asked, eying the men cautiously.

“Guess yeh could say tha'.” the greasy haired man said, “Now, let's turn out your bag before anything bad happens.”

“In your dreams. I don't have anything of any value to give you if I wanted to.” Anna said defiantly.

“You're a bad liar, love.” Greasy said to her, eying her up and down, “Anybody in them type a clothes' bound to have something in her handbag. Wha' you say, love dove?”

“I suggest you do what he wants.” one of the large thugs growled, “It could end very badly for you, dearie.”

Anna sneered at the man and turned back to Greasy. “Not as bad as it's gonna be for you. Do you have any idea who you're talking to, you two?” she asked.

“Sure we do. A little sweet lady.” Greasy said, nodding to his friend who suddenly seized Anna around the waist. Anna yelped and tried to get away from him.

“Put me down!” she screamed as he let her go. She looked at the large man and scowled, “That's no way to treat a lady, sir!” she barked. Suddenly, she heard Greasy's cold voice behind her.

“And you know the right way to treat a lady, love? Tell me, wha's the right way to treat a dame like yourself?” he crooned into her ear, running his fingers through her hair. Anna shivered as he brought his hand up to her head again and got an idea. She intertwined her hand with his.

“I'll show you.” she said in a voice just as cold as his as she placed her other hand around his, taking his middle finger and jerking it backward as hard and fast as she could, making Greasy scream out in pain as he backed off, nursing his finger. Anna took advantage of the opportunity and wound up, socking him right in the jaw. She watched him spit blood and a tooth as his head flew back from where she'd hit him. Without warning, the large man grabbed her from behind as the other stood in front of her.

“Let me go you... bastards!” she yelled, remembering the words that Kristoff often used when he was angry.

“Shut your trap, woman!” the man screamed back at her, slapping her across the face, “We'll teach you to lead a man on!”

“Go to hell!”

“Right behind you, sweetheart.” the man grinned as he took out a large knife and brought it to Anna's face.

“Hold it right there, dirtbag.”

Anna felt her heart lurch into her chest as she looked over to see none other than Henrik Westergaard atop his horse, holding his sword to the man's back. “If you three have any sense whatsoever, you'll turn around right now, release the girl and go on your way.”

“Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it, pretty boy?” the large thug demanded.

“I'll start by cutting off each of your legs followed by your arms, then probably your noses and eyes. I could go on if you like.” Henrik said, “I could plunge this directly into your heart, put it through your eye and by the time greasy hair over there has time to think, I can separate his head from his neck. Which one would you guys like? Let the girl go or the latter?”

The large thug holding Anna sneered and dropped her to the ground as the other went to help the whimpering greasy haired thug.

“We're gonna get you for this you son of a bitch.” one of the larger thugs growled. Henrik smirked.

“We'll see about that then, won't we?” he grinned as the three men turned and stomped away. Henrik turned to Anna and looked just as she was straightening out her dress.

“I had that under control.” she snapped.

“You know, you could say 'thank you'.” Henrik fired back, putting his sword away, “After all, I did just save you from being ravaged and beaten by three dirty thugs.”

“I can take care of myself, I don't need your help.” Anna insisted. Henrik chuckled.

“Are you joking? Those guys would have killed you.”

“I hurt one, didn't I?”

“And what about the other two?”

“I would've figured it out!”

“Well, Princess, it seems to me that you need to be a little more grateful to those who try to help you. And here I was, out here searching for your friend and his reindeer to try and help you and your sister out and this is the thanks I get?”

Anna was shocked. He was out here looking for Kristoff and Sven?

“You were looking for Kristoff and Sven?”

“I was, until I found you.” Henrik said. Anna shook her head, dumbfounded.

“Why?”

“Because your sister asked me to. She's worried about them. And about you.” Anna raised an eyebrow.

“You sure she didn't just send you out here to keep tabs on her clumsy, irresponsible little sister?” she asked, suddenly irritated again. Where did Elsa get off asking him to come find her? A perfect stranger?

“No, that's not the reason at all. I would explain if you would just hear me out.” Henrik explained.

“No, it's fine. I think you've said enough.” Anna said hotly as she swung herself up on her horse. “Thanks for getting rid of those thugs. I'm sure it made you feel all heroic inside.” she grumbled, urging her horse and taking off back towards Arendelle.

***

After what seemed like forever, Kristoff finally felt as the man carrying him put him down. Kristoff shuddered a little as he touched what he guessed was the floor. Unlike the wood, it was cold, like stone. Where the hell were they?

He listened out and heard as they shackled his chain to the wall and brought in Sven, who, surprisingly, wasn't giving much of a fight anymore.

“Welcome home, ice boy.” he heard the man say as he untied the hood from his head and yanked it off.

Kristoff looked around at his new surroundings, seeing that wherever he was, it was still dark, no windows at all. The walls and floor were completely made of stone, almost like some sort of place designed to be a dungeon. However, he looked up to see a long, spiraling staircase leading to an upper level that was blocked off by a trapdoor. He was in some sort of a tower, he guessed. If it was a tower, it was the very bottom. He wondered if Hans would make a reappearance for his daily dose of teasing, but luckily, he didn't see him anywhere around.

“Enjoy your new home, kid.” the man who carried him in laughed, ruffling Kristoff's hair again. Kristoff let out a low growl that was muffled enough by the gag that it was inaudible to the other man. He hated when they did that...

Kristoff looked over and saw that Sven was actually within his reach. Hoping his chain wouldn't stop him, he laid back down on the floor and did his best to try and crawl towards Sven, this proving to be difficult due to his hands being bound behind him. Sven looked over at Kristoff and whined as Kristoff finally made it over to him. Sven whined again and nuzzled Kristoff's head. Kristoff sighed and rubbed his cheek against Sven's snout, trying his best to pet him without his hands. He hadn't talked to the reindeer in days and it bothered him to no end. He talked to the reindeer every day and always vented his problems to him, mostly because Sven listened so well, partly because he didn't talk.

He remembered back to when he and Sven first met. Kristoff had only been eight at the time, usually hanging around with the ice harvesters. He'd been in and out of various orphanages after his father, also an ice harvester, had gotten sick with pneumonia and passed away. His mother had contracted hypothermia one day and took Kristoff to an orphanage before she died, promising him that she would see him again one day as she wiped away his and her tears.

None of the orphanages had been particularly nice, so Kristoff often snuck out and ran around in the forest, playing with various animals. One day, he was running around in the snow and heard what sounded like an animal whimpering. A little nervous, Kristoff followed the sound, taking a stick with him in case it was something scary. Sure, he might be on the small side since he was only eight, but he was sure if any animal tried to eat him he could fend it off with a good thwack.

“Um... hello? Who's there? I have a- a... stick.” he called out. He listened out and heard as the animal cried out again. He cautiously peeked around the corner to see a small reindeer calf with his tongue stuck to the ice. The poor little thing must have not realized it was frozen and gotten himself stuck. The little reindeer looked at Kristoff sadly and whined, as if asking him for help. Kristoff dropped his stick in the snow and went over to the reindeer.

“Hey there, little guy.” Kristoff said as he bent down and looked at the reindeer’s tongue, “What's wrong, you got stuck?”

The reindeer snorted and wagged his tail as he eyed the ice then looked back at Kristoff.

“Um... okay. I'm gonna help you. Now, on three we're gonna pull together, you and me.” he explained as he wrapped his arms around the reindeer's body, “Ready?”

The reindeer snorted again. “Okay, one... two... three!”

Kristoff pulled at the reindeer's body as the reindeer pulled his tongue clear off the ice, sending them both falling backward into the snow. Kristoff sat up, snow all in his messy blond hair. He began to brush off the snow as the reindeer ran up to him, panting happily.

“Well, hi there. Feel better, little guy?” he asked as the reindeer suddenly tackled him, making him fall back in the snow as the creature licked his face gratefully, covering him in slobber. Kristoff yelped in surprise before smiling and scratching the reindeer behind the ears.

“Oh thank you, little guy. That's sweet of you.” he said as the reindeer stopped and panted at him. Kristoff looked around and saw no other reindeer around. Where were his parents?

“Where's your Mom and Pop at, little guy?” he asked as the reindeer tilted his head sadly and whined and Kristoff realized the poor thing must have no parents.

Like him...

“Oh... are they... gone?” The reindeer hung his head sadly. “Aw, it's okay,” Kristoff assured him as he scooted over closer to the reindeer and petted the top of his head.

“My Mom and Pop are gone, too. Do you have anywhere to go?”

The reindeer whined and hung his head again, indicating that he had no place to go. Kristoff wanted more than anything to take him, but the orphanage would never allow it.

_You know what, to hell with them._ Kristoff thought. _They don't even take good care of me anyways._

“It's okay. You can come on with me, little guy. Would you like that?” he asked as the reindeer, who bounced around happily, panting like crazy as he licked Kristoff's face gratefully. Kristoff smiled and looked at him.

“Well, one thing we gotta do first. You need a name.” he said, “Now... let me think...” Kristoff went through names of people he knew in his head, none of them really worthy for a reindeer this sweet to be named after them.

Then he thought about his father.

“How about Sven? Do you like that name? Sven?” he asked. The reindeer tilted his head and whined, letting his tongue hang out of his mouth as he panted happily. Kristoff smiled and nodded his head. “Okay Sven, so what do we do first?”

The memory of meeting his best friend brought him some sort of comfort. If he could've smiled, he would have. Grateful to still have the reindeer by his side, Kristoff curled up as best he could beside the reindeer, trying to imagine that his body, hands and mouth were free. He hear Sven's heartbeat against his chest.

The beat soon lulled him to sleep.

 


	10. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hans meets some new people; Tension builds between Anna and Elsa

The kingdom where they'd docked was called Corona, Hans found out. Apparently Anna had a cousin that lived here, her also being the Princess. Her name was Rapunzel and Hans had heard she used to have golden, glowing, magical hair but now had shorter, brown hair. He wondered what had happened to it. He'd heard that she had been held in a tower by a witch who used her for her hair's magical powers, which was to heal wounds and restored the witch's beauty. Apparently the witch was going to take Rapunzel away, but before she could, Rapunzel's husband, a former thief, cut off her magical hair, reversing it's effects on the witch and killing her.

Hans wondered how Rapunzel's husband, Eugene Fitzherbert, formerly known as Flynn Rider, could go from being a thief stealing the crown to wearing a crown of his own. He'd always thought royals had to marry royals but then again, royals made the rules so he supposed that meant they could marry who they wanted.

He made his way through the town, glad to finally be in a place he could walk around without being recognized. Without warning, he felt someone bump into him, the person dropping their bag, which contained a bushel of fruit.

“Damn!” the man who Hans had bumped into exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his long, flowing brown hair, “Look at what you did, blondie. Made me spill all the fruit. And bump this nice gentleman here. What am I gonna do with you?” the man asked a young woman, about the same size as Anna who had short, shoulder length brown hair and green eyes.

“Oh stop, Eugene. At least apologize to the poor man!” she scolded the man, slapping him playfully on the arm. Hans quickly realized who they were: It was Rapunzel and Eugene. Walking around town like normal people. Buying fruit.

“Oh I think you'd better do that. I'm abrasive, remember?” Eugene smirked as he stooped down to pick up the fruit. Rapunzel rolled her eyes with a smirk and turned to Hans.

“I'm terribly sorry, sir. Are you okay?” she asked.

“Oh yes, my lady.” Hans replied, bowing to her. Rapunzel looked surprised.

“What're you doing?” she laughed.

“You are the Princess, right? Rapunzel?” Hans asked.

“Well, yes. But you don't have to bow and all that. It's okay, really.” she assured him, extending a petite hand, “It's a pleasure to meet you...”

“Oh, Prince Elias of the Southern Isles.” Hans lied. He knew better than to let her know his real name and instead taking the name of one of his twelve brothers. They all looked enough alike. She would never know the difference.

“Pleasure, sir.” she said as Eugene popped back up beside her and cleared his throat rather loudly. Rapunzel rolled her eyes and gestured to him. “This is Eugene, my husband.” Eugene cleared his throat again, this time even more obnoxiously. “Or no, excuse me. I mean, Prince Eugene of Corona, first of his name, long may be reign.”

“In the flesh,” Eugene said, extending a free hand, “Hi there, pal. Prince Eugene Fitzherbert. Pleasure to make you acquaintance.”

“Pleasure's all mine.” Hans said, “Well, I'd better get going. Lots of things to do, people to see.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, maybe we'll see you again? We come to town nearly every day.” Rapunzel said.

“Yeah. Maybe.” Hans smiled, “Well, it was nice to meet you both. Goodbye.” he said as he started off in the opposite direction.

“Nice guy.” Eugene said as Hans walked away. Rapunzel nodded.

“Yeah, he seemed like it. It's a shame his brother is crazy.”

“Wait, hang on, maybe a bug flew in my ear or it's just Pascal's tongue again but I thought you said he had a crazy brother.” Eugene joked.

“I did! And he does! Remember? That guy that watched over Arendelle while the freeze was going on?”

Eugene thought for a moment and snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah! That guy!” he remembered, “Yeah, he was sort of a jerk now that I remember.”

“Of course he was a jerk, he tried to kill Elsa and left Anna to freeze to death after he led her on believing he was a nice guy!” Rapunzel said.

“Wait... so he led her on thinking he was all sweet rainbows and kisses while he actually planned on killing them both just so he could get the throne after he married one of them? Is that how it went?”

Rapunzel nodded.

“Ugh!” Eugene cried, “That is just... that is evil right there. That's just... not even right.”

“Right? And apparently he got in a lot of trouble with his big brothers when he got back to the Southern Isles. I hear they made it hard on him.”

“Yeah? Good.”

“Eugene!”  
Eugene raised an eyebrow, “And you think a lying, backstabbing wannabe murderer psycho doesn't deserve a good, harsh punishment?”

“Well...”

“See? Look, it happened again.”

“What happened again?”

“I'm right again.”

Rapunzel raised her eyebrows at him. “What do you mean 'again'? Most of the time, I'm the one who's right.”

“But this time you're not. Ha ha!” Eugene whooped in victory as he pulled an apple out of the bag and bit into it. He offered it to Rapunzel. “Wanna bite, sweetheart?”

“Stop it.”

“Come on, let's share an apple together, baby cakes.” he crooned.

“Stop it, Eugene.”

“Oh come now, it'll be so cute and romantic I might just throw up a little.” Eugene pushed, putting the apple in front of her face, “Mmmm... nice, juicy red apple for you, dearest.”

“Eugene-”

“Come on, bite it.”

“I swear I'll-”

“Love me every day?”

“Eugene-”

“Twice daily. And an apple every day? Keep you healthy.” he said as he took a bite.

“That was on the ground.”

Eugene gulped and made a face. Rapunzel stopped and scoffed.

“Now what?”

“I think I might actually puke, grab the fruit before my lunch goes all over it.”

***

Back in Arendelle, Anna stomped up the stairs, only to be greeted by Elsa, who had her arms crossed.

“Can I help you?” she snapped, still irritated over her encounter with Henrik.

“You mind telling me where you were?” Elsa asked.

“No, I'm pretty sure Henrik's already told you everything by now, you two are so chummy together.” Anna grumbled as she tried to cross to her room. Elsa conjured up a wall of ice in front of her. Anna turned to face her sister. “Seriously?”

“You're not gonna walk away from me on this, Anna.”

“Since when did being Queen make you our mother?”

“Since you're my little sister and the only close family I have left and I was worried about you. Not even Olaf knew where you went. Now tell me where you went!”

“Or what?”

Elsa stared, unsure of what to say. She had nothing. She couldn't do anything to punish her.

“That's what I thought.” Anna said, going around the wall of ice to her door, stopping as she turned the doorknob, “Oh and if you really must know, your highness, I was out looking for our missing friends, something you should probably give a little bit more consideration to instead of some psycho bastard's handsome brother.” she spat before shutting the door.

Elsa felt fire rise behind her face as she stomped over to Anna's door, leaving trails of ice behind her.

“What did you just say to me?! Where do you get off acting like such a brat?! Do you know why I've been so preoccupied with Henrik? I'm trying to fix everything that stupid bastard you're referring to messed up by asking you to marry him and trying to kill us both! I'm the one doing all the work to keep our country afloat and you don't even care! Of course I care about finding Kristoff and Sven, but as a Queen I've got plenty of other things to worry about and if you can't even tell me where it is you're going off to so I can make sure you stay safe... then I can't let you leave.”

Behind the door, Anna heard a low crackling and looked at the doorknob, which was turning a crystal blue with ice. She quickly realized what was happening and grabbed the doorknob, trying to twist it, but it was too late.

“No... no, Elsa no! You can't do this to me! You can't just leave me in here! I have to find them!”

On the other side of the door, Elsa closed her eyes as she heard her sister's voice break. She knew Anna was only acting out because she was worried about Kristoff... and she was worried too...

“I don't want to do this, Anna, but you're my sister and I have to keep you safe. No matter what.” she called through the door, “I'm sorry...”

“You let me out of here, Elsa! Let me out! Kristoff and Sven are in danger, please! Please let me out!” Anna pleaded, her voice cracking as the tears came. “DAMN IT LET ME OUT!” she wailed, pounding the door with her fists. As Elsa heard her sister's cries and the pounding, an icy tear ran down her cheek, freezing solid before it fell from her face, frost spreading across the floor as she stood by Anna's door.

She turned and walked away, leaving a trail of frost behind her as her only sister pounded on the door.

She had to find Kristoff and Sven. Fast.

***

After what felt like hours of screaming and pounding on the door, Anna finally managed to give up, furious at Elsa. She hated being angry with her. After all, she was her only sister and only family, but she was being stupid. She was too wrapped in politics and Henrik's pretty face to even consider going to save the man that had helped bring the two of them together and his loveable pet.

After a while of sitting around in her room, contemplating on what she should do, Anna looked at her bed and then to the window. Within a few minutes, she was on her feet pushing at the windows until they opened outward. She then stripped the bed of her sheets and blanket, even her pillowcases and tied them all together. Thank God Kristoff taught her how to tie a decent enough knot...

She tied the end of the sheet to her bedpost and threw them out the window, her sheets spilling down to the cobblestones below. She took her bag and looped it around her shoulder, wrapping a cloak around her for the cold as she looked at the rope she had made. She looked over the edge of her window and swallowed hard.

It was a long way down. But she had also tried to climb down a much higher surface and managed to survive a two-hundred foot fall. But... there was twenty feet of fresh snow to break the fall. Here there was only hard cobblestones. She would smash like a tomato if she stepped wrong.

“You can do this... for Kristoff and Sven. You can do this, Anna.” she told herself as she rubbed her hands together, “Okay... here we go. Just don't look down.... again.”

Taking a deep breath again, she inched her way out the window, holding onto the makeshift rope. Slowly, she began to rappel down the side of the castle.

This wasn't so hard. As a matter of fact, it was sort of fun. Not to mention, she felt like a hero she read about in her books. She felt like Joan of Arc.

Her heart almost stopped as her hand slipped on her sheets, causing her to slide down the rope faster than she'd anticipated. She gasped, trying her best not to scream as she fell, still gripping the sheets. Luckily, her hand stopped on a knot where the sheets tied together, allowing her to plant her feet on the side of the castle and take a few deep breaths, trying to regain her bearings.

“Okay... next time you sneak out of your room, don't use the satin sheets...” she told herself as she began to slowly inch down, careful not to slip again. Within a few minutes, she was on the ground and running towards the stables. Once inside, she took a horse from the stables. Not her horse because if Elsa got word that her horse was gone, she'd know that she had gone and that would be the last thing she needed.

She looked on the wall and took a pick ax from a nail. She placed it in her bag and urged her horse forward towards the gate.

_Don't worry Kristoff. I'm going to find you even if it kills me._

 


	11. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elsa speaks with Henrik; Rapunzel and Eugene have second thoughts; Anna continues to break the rules

Elsa sat at her desk, frustrated, trying to get some work done when there came a knock.

“Who is it?”

“It's Henrik. May I come in?”

“Come in.”

Elsa didn't look up from her work as Henrik crossed over to the chair in front of her desk.

“May I sit?”

“Be my guest.”

Henrik sat down and looked over at Elsa. He saw small, frozen patches of water on her cheeks. She'd been crying. He thought it best not to mention it.

“How did it go with your sister?” he asked delicately.

“You don't want to know.” Elsa answered. Henrik frowned.

“Was it really that bad?”

“Have you seen the hallway?”

Henrik looked back through the doorway to notice the hallway completely covered in ice.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“What happened? If you don't mind my asking.”

Elsa sat down her quill and took a deep breath. “She accused me of being to preoccupied with the status of our kingdom instead of doing anything about finding Kristoff and Sven. It's as if she thinks I don't care about them.” she explained, “And I do! I adore Kristoff and Sven! Any man who risks his life to come all the way back here in a blizzard just to see if my sister was okay automatically has my approval. And not to mention Sven. Without him, Kristoff would have never got all the way back here.”

Henrik raised his eyebrows. “He did that? The ice boy did?” he asked. Elsa nodded. “Wow. He must truly care a lot about Anna.”

“He does... I- I think he might be in love with her.”

“And how's that make you feel?”

Elsa thought for a moment. “Happy. Very, very happy.”

Henrik shifted in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. “But... what about you? Wouldn't you like to find someone one day?” he asked.

“Well... I suppose... maybe one day...” Elsa mumbled, looking over at Henrik as she spoke. His eyes were beautiful... “But not now... too many things to sort out.” she said, turning back to her work. She heard Henrik get up and cross over to her. She felt his warm, smooth hand on her shoulder.

“You shouldn't work so hard. It isn't good for you. Believe me. Too much work can make a person... crazy.” Elsa looked over at his hand. Part of her wanted to return to work, but the other part...

She brought her hand up to his. She didn't know why but... it felt right. Maybe because he was comforting her... she didn't know. She got up and looked at him.

“I... I don't know what to...” she began as Henrik ran a hand down her braid.

“It's all right, Elsa. We'll find Kristoff and Sven.”

Elsa looked at him and inhaled. He might look a lot like his brother, but then again, his brother may have been crazy, but there was no denying he was very handsome.

“May I kiss you?” she heard him ask. Elsa didn't know what to say. She had never been kissed by anyone before... nor had anyone asked to kiss her. Not like this anyway. Her icy blue eyes met his green as her voice swept out,

“Yes.”

She closed her eyes as she felt him move closer, embracing her delicately as his lips met hers. Elsa felt a fire inside her, something she hadn't felt since she let her powers go.

She felt exhilarated.

She brought a hand up to his head and ran her fingers through his hair and down his beard as they continued their kiss. She felt him run a hand down her back, making her tremble. Suddenly, they stopped their kiss, both of them opening their eyes.

“Elsa... you're trembling. Are you all right?” he asked. Elsa took a few deep breaths and looked over at Henrik.

“Kiss me again.” she said. Henrik smiled and stroked her braid.

“As you wish.”

She closed her eyes as her lips touched his and felt as she began to let go... as the pair kissed, none of them noticed that snow had begun to fall in the study.

She was letting go all over again.

***

As Rapunzel and Eugene returned to the castle that evening, the courier came running to Rapunzel's side, waving a letter in his hand.

“Princess! Important letter for you.” he called as he stopped, out of breath and handed Rapunzel the letter. Rapunzel looked on the back to see the snowflake imprinted on the wax seal. It was from Arendelle.

“This is from Arendelle. It must be Anna's letter.” she guessed. Over the past few months, Rapunzel had kept in contact with Anna through letters. She had told her all about growing up with Mother Gothel and how she left her tower with Eugene and fell in love with him as they watched the lanterns light up the sky. Anna had told her about how she went to find Elsa after she froze everything and met up with her new friends, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf and how they'd been cheated by Prince Hans. She also often talked about Kristoff in her letters, describing him as “grumpy but sweet as can be” and also wrote about his “big, brown adorable puppy dog eyes” and how he often flashed them at Anna whenever she made him do something he didn't want to do. Rapunzel thought he sounded like a good person and planned on meeting him the next time she went to visit Arendelle. Or, if Anna came to Corona, she could bring him with her. How much fun would that be?

“What's it say, blondie?” she heard Eugene ask as she broke the seal and began to read the letter, her large, green eyes growing even larger.

“It says that apparently Anna's having a hard time with one of the brothers of that psycho prince visiting their kingdom and that her best friend and his reindeer are missing.” she said as she looked at the posters of Kristoff and Sven that Anna had sent.

“Oh God,” Eugene mumbled.

“What? What is it?”

He pointed to Kristoff. “I know that guy. I've seen him in the kingdom before. I talked to him actually. He was selling these blocks of ice and talking to his... pet, I guess.” he pointed to Sven, “Him. Right there.”

“Do you remember anything else about him?” Rapunzel asked. Eugene screwed up his face and raised an eyebrow.

“I think he's about my height, his hair was all long and messy like it is in the picture. He didn't smell too good and he was a tiny bit abrasive. But hey, it was a hectic day that day, I guess I can't really blame the guy.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“Well, I think I asked him why he sold ice and he gave me an answer like ‘Cause it makes me money’ or something like that. Very deadpan. Why?”

Rapunzel looked at the letter. “Because Anna has no idea where he and his reindeer are.”

Eugene raised an eyebrow again. “You think they're in Corona?”

“Well, one of those twelve-thousand Westergard brothers is here and there's one in Arendelle too. I'm saying that that's a coincidence, and maybe Kristoff and his reindeer are somewhere around here.”

Eugene scoffed. “Hon, I highly doubt they got on a boat and rode over here just for laughs and then didn't tell anyone where they were going. From what Anna says about this guy, he seems pretty up front and honest.”

Rapunzel tapped her chin. “Well... I guess that is true. But... just keep an eye out. Just in case.”

“Of course. Consider it done, blondie.”

***

As Anna rode through the woods, she caught notice of the neighboring town she had gone to looking for Kristoff and steered her horse in that direction. Once there, she dismounted and approached the square, putting her horse in a stable for the time being. She looked around and still saw the posters of Kristoff and Sven, undisturbed. She walked around a few minutes, checking in stables, vegetable stands, anywhere she thought they may be.

Her eyes suddenly caught notice of a pub. She then suddenly realized, she was parched. A pub wasn't really her style... but she didn't care. And she might find some information in here. She took a deep breath and made her way inside.

Once inside the pub, the men sitting around stopped and stared as if they'd never seen a woman before. Anna chuckled nervously and waved.

“Um... hi. Where could I get a drink?” she asked. Nearly half the men pointed at the bar as the others kept their eyes on Anna. She smiled nervously and made her way up to the bar. “Thanks...” she smiled as she sat down, taking off her hat and running her fingers through her hair. She hadn't braided it in days and she actually sort of liked it being looser.

“What'll it be, miss?” she heard the bartender ask.

“Um... just a water is fine.” she said.

“Comin' right up. You new in town?”

Anna shook her head. “No, I'm from one town over. Just passing through today.”

“Ah. Lotta people do that round here. Get a lot of drifters and harvesters in here.”

Anna shifted her eyes to the bartender. “What did you just say?”

“Said we get a lotta harvesters in here, lookin' for something warm to drink. Or maybe a little somethin' stronger. Just depends on the harvester. Sometimes they even ask for beer for their horses.”

“Have you seen this particular harvester?” Anna asked, leaning over the bar and showing him the picture of Kristoff. The bartender studied the paper.

“Oh yeah, I seen him in here a few times. He never gets any beer or nothin', usually just hot chocolate and carrots. He's that one who's got the reindeer instead of the horse, yeah?”

“Yeah, that's him. His name's Kristoff and the reindeer's name is Sven.”

“Ah yeah, Kristoff's his name. I been callin' him Kristoffer all the time. Guess that's my fault for not rememberin' people's names.”

Anna folded up the paper and put it back in her bag as he served her the water. She took a long gulp, followed by another until eventually, she'd chugged down the whole cup.

“Damn, little lady you was thirsty, weren't ya?”

Anna chuckled as she wiped the water from her lips. “Yeah, guess I was. May I have another?”

“Sure thing. You interested in trying some of our famous beer? Brew it right here in town. It's real tasty.”

Anna had never had any alcohol aside from champagne and wine at parties and even then she never had very much of it. She'd wondered why a lot of guys liked beer and always wondered what it tasted like.

“Um... sure. Why not?”

“All right. I like to see a lady who enjoys a good drink.” the bartender said as he filled the mug, the foam spilling over the top. “Here ya go, miss.”

Anna took the mug in both hands and took a huge gulp, followed by another. And another. Within a few minutes, the mug was empty and she put it down on the counter, wiping the foam from her mouth.

“Damn lady, you drink like a man.” the bartender said, bewildered.

“It actually wasn't that bad,” Anna admitted, “But I'll only have the one. And I thought you were supposed to drink it fast?”

“Nah, I like to enjoy mine. Only the drunks chug theirs faster than a racehorse so they can get another one.”

“Oh.” Anna said, a little embarrassed as he handed her the water. She took a long, slow sip.

“Don't worry, I got a feeling it was your first beer, wasn't it?”

“Yes sir, it was.”

“Ah, enjoy it any way you can.” he said, studying her face, “Say, miss? You look familiar... you said you was from Arendelle? One town over?”

Anna nodded.

“I know this is gonna be a stretch but... you look a lot like their Princess.” he said. Anna moved in a little closer and whispered to him,

“That's cause I _am_ the Princess.” The bartender looked excited and was about to speak when Anna shushed him, “But you can't tell anyone I'm here.”

“All righty, milady.” he agreed. Anna shook her head.

“No, no formalities, please.” she said then whispered, “I'm not the princess, remember?”

“Right. Sorry about that mila- er... miss.”

“It's all right. So, Kristoff was here? How long ago?”

“I reckon... about a week or so ago. Said he was going on this one last trip before it got cold and he couldn't sell much ice no more.” the bartender said.

_Okay, now we're getting somewhere._ Anna thought. “Did he just come in for a drink or did something happen? He... get in a fight or anything? Have an argument with someone?”

The bartender shook his head. “Nome, he didn't. Just came in, drank his hot chocolate, and bought some carrots then left.”

“Did you see anything suspicious? Did anybody give him like... I don't know like dirty looks or something? Like maybe they didn't like him?”

The bartender thought for a moment. “Actually miss, come to think of it, there was this one fella who kinda looked surprised when he came in then just kinda stared daggers at him the whole time.”

_Bingo._ “Who was that guy? What did he look like? What did he order? What was his business here?”

“Whoa, whoa, little lady, slow down, lemme think. I think he wanted a beer and then he sat down with a couple of other fellas. Think I overheard they was from Weaseltown or somethin'. Don't know where the other fella was from though, he didn't say.”

Anna thought about the Duke of Weselton. Yes, Elsa had made him angry by severing their trade deal, but would that be a reason for him to try and hurt Kristoff? She figured she might as well try.

“Was the man old, really short, like we're talking like four feet tall short with a bad hairpiece and glasses?”

The bartender shook his head. “Nome. He was taller than four feet, I think maybe an inch or two taller than your blond friend. He was clean, wore some nice lookin' clothes. Didn't look like the bar type at all.”

“What else?”

“Um... he had some red hair and some real crazy lookin' mutton chop sideburns goin' on.” the bartender said, running his hand down his sideburns and cheek to illustrate what it looked like.

Anna's eyes went wide as her hand went limp, spilling her water on the counter as she stared blankly into space. She heard the bartender exclaim and ask if she was all right but she didn't answer. She couldn't answer. The shock of finding out who it was that had been in the bar the same time as Kristoff boiled inside her, transforming her shock into sheer anger as she clenched her free hand into a fist, remembering how much it had hurt when she'd punched him in the mouth.

“I'm sorry, but I really need to go now.” she said coolly as she laid out the money on the table. “Keep the change.”

 


	12. Bold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Anna makes a bold move against Henrik; Kristoff questions Hans and his motives

The enormous crash of thunder woke Kristoff as it bounced off of the stone walls of the tower, making him jump as he let out a small, involuntary whimper through the gag. Sven awoke as well and whined as Kristoff backed up into him, forgetting where he was. He turned his head as if to apologize, but found he still couldn't. Kristoff and Sven already didn't like thunderstorms after having to go through so many in their lives, afraid of being struck by lightning as they usually slept outside. Kristoff remembered a time when he was a teenager where lightning had struck a tree near them and he had to shove Sven out of the way before he could move out of the tree's way. Of course, when they stayed in the valley with the trolls, it was always a little more comforting, but once they'd gotten into harvesting ice, sleeping outside had become an all too familiar occurrence.

Kristoff was so preoccupied with listening to the thunder that he didn't hear the door open. He took notice of the lantern and saw that it was only Hans, carrying two bowls. Hans sat one down on the floor in front of Sven and loosened the ropes around the reindeer's snout, allowing him to drink. He left the room and came back with a bottle filled with water and sat it down in front of Kristoff along with the bowl.

“Dinner time.” he said, “Sit up.”

Kristoff squirmed against Sven, struggling against the ropes as he tried his best to sit up, but his bound limbs made it hard. Hans grabbed the ropes around him and helped him sit up as he reached up and pulled the gag off of Kristoff's mouth. He shoved the bottle in Kristoff's face and told him, “Open your mouth, tilt back your head and drink.”

Kristoff obeyed, only because he was so thirsty. He was grateful as Hans poured the water, actually cold this time, down his throat. After a few seconds, Hans stopped, allowing for Kristoff to swallow. Hans then took the bowl and held in front of Kristoff. Kristoff looked to see that it contained some sort of soup.

“Tilt you head back again and sip this. Don't make a mess.” Hans commanded. Kristoff's stomach rumbled as he tilted his head back, allowing Hans to pour some of the soup in his mouth. The soup wasn't warm, nor was it cold. It was lukewarm and tasted like tomatoes. It certainly was a lot better than scraps of half eaten chicken. As Hans stopped, Kristoff swallowed the soup.

“What, were you afraid I'd die of starvation eating your little scraps of chicken?” he asked as Hans shook his head.

“No. You saw what happened last time we gave you chicken.” he muttered.

“Oh, that's right. By the way, how is your throat?” Kristoff asked.

“Depends. How's your head?” Hans shot back.

“Fine. I've got a thick skull.”

“That's for sure. Open and lean back.”

Kristoff followed instructions as Hans poured more soup down his throat, followed by water. “Where did you bring me?” Kristoff asked.

“Is that really important?”

Kristoff blew his bangs off his forehead. “Right. I should've known you wouldn't tell me.”

“Right, you should have. Open again. Last bit.”

Kristoff let Hans pour the remainder of the soup down his throat followed by the rest of the water. Hans pulled a few vegetables out of his jacket pocket and laid them in front of Sven, who whined and eagerly gobbled them up. Kristoff glared up at Hans.

  
  


“You know what to do by now, I take it?” Hans said. Kristoff gave him a defiant look.

“What if I don’t want to?” he asked.

“You’ve been not wanting to for a while now,” the prince replied, “Do you really think anything’s going to change now?”

Kristoff shifted his eyes around. “Why are you doing this to me? Honestly, you’d never even met me, talked to me, so much as even looked at me.” Kristoff said. It was true, that day on the ship, after the fjord had thawed, Hans’ focus was solely on Anna, until she punched him. Kristoff hadn’t even seen him before they took him back to the Southern Isles.

  
  


“Does that really matter, Kristoff? You’re close to Anna and Elsa, and I can’t have you running back to Arendelle saying anything. I know you can’t be trusted to stay where you are, you proved that back at the cabin, so, I keep you tied up. I know I can’t trust you not to call out for someone to help you, so I keep you silent.” Hans then pulled Kristoff closer to him as Kristoff rolled his eyes. He was really getting tired of this. Hans took the material and readjusted it over Kristoff's mouth and retied the knot.

  
  


“Now, you stay here and be still and quiet. You understand me?” he asked. Kristoff’s defiant look didn’t falter. “Tell me you understand.” Hans demanded.

  
  


“Mffff ermm” said Kristoff. _Fuck you_.

  
  


Hans took in a deep breath before letting go of his ropes and letting Kristoff lean against Sven. He waited as Sven finished the food and water and readjusted the ropes around Sven’s snout as he whined sadly. Kristoff turned so that his hands touched the reindeer and scratched his fur.

  
  


“Behave yourselves.” Hans told them before he took the lantern, bowls and the water bottle and left them alone in the dark as the storm raged outside.

***

As Anna returned the horse she borrowed back to the stable, her blood boiled. Henrik had lied to her she just knew it. He was here to get into Elsa's head for revenge for his brother. The thought sickened her. She didn't even try sneaking back into her room. She marched up to the castle and opened the doors, her face taught with anger as she made her way up the stairs. She made her way down the hallway to Henrik's room and quietly took the pick ax from her bag. She stopped outside the door and listened. It was silent. She quietly pushed open the door to see Henrik changing, his shirt lying on the bed and his torso naked. She didn't even consider looking at his body as she went in and with all her might, whirled him around and shoved him into the wall, holding the pick ax under his chin.

“You say one thing out of turn and I'll open your throat all over the rug and I really don't want to ruin this rug because it's very nice. Now, where he is he?” she demanded. Henrik looked surprised, too surprised for someone who was lying.

“Princess Anna... what's the meaning of this? How did you even-”

“Get out of my room? Oh, I have ways my friend now you're gonna tell me where he is.”

Henrik was confused. “Where who is, milady?”

“Don't play stupid with me. You know damn well who. Your brother. Where is he?”

“Who- Hans?” he asked. Anna nodded. “He's back in the Southern Isles where he belongs now can you please release me?”

“I don't think so. If he's in the Southern Isles then how come I just got word he was sighted in a pub one town over, staring daggers at Kristoff, huh? Were they lying to me, Henrik?”

“I-I don't know.... maybe. I have no idea, milady.”

“Why are you lying to me?” she demanded, holding the pick ax even tighter against his throat. Henrik gulped.

“Princess Anna, I am not lying to you, if Hans is not in the Southern Isles, I have no idea where he is, honestly. That's where he was when I left to come here.”

Anna glared at him. He didn't seem like he was lying... but she couldn't be sure. She moved in closer and whispered in his ear:

“I'm letting you off the hook this time, but if I find out that you're lying to me or if I see you making any sort of advances towards my sister,” she moved the pick ax from his throat to between his legs and pressed it against his manhood, “I'm going to make you wish you were never born. Do you understand me?”

Henrik looked at her, surprised and a little nervous and nodded. “You have my word.”

“Good.” Anna said, releasing him as she turned around and walked out, “Now put your clothes on.”

Anna returned the pick ax back to her bag and walked down the stairs and out the front gates, crossing back to where she had thrown down the sheets. Much to her amazement, they were still there. She gripped the sheets and scampered up the rope to her room where she pulled in the sheets and shut the windows tight. After getting back into her room safely, she took a deep breath and smiled, sitting down on the bed.

“I just did that... _I_ just did that!” she whispered to herself. “I can't even believe...” she sighed, “Kristoff would be so proud.”

It was true. Kristoff already admired Anna's determination and strong willed attitude, but he had told her not to take anything from anyone and since then, she hadn't. And over all, she felt better, more confident. She laid down onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She looked over at the doorknob. All of the ice had begun to melt finally. She reached over and turned the knob and the door came open. Anna smiled and shut the door back.

“I knew you wouldn't leave me in here.” she said. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.

She needed to write to Rapunzel again. She had to tell her about Hans. Rapunzel had seen Hans in Arendelle during the freeze so she knew what he looked like so she wouldn't have to send a picture or anything. She got up and crossed over to her desk, taking her plume and beginning to write,

_Dear Rapunzel,_

_I know I already sent you a letter, but this is very, very super important. I have a new break in the search for Kristoff and Sven. It turns out that jerk prince Hans from the Southern Isles, Hans Westergard was seen in a pub Kristoff went to and apparently was giving him quite an intense stare down and I think he might have taken him and Sven. Please, if you see him, do not let him leave Corona under any circumstances. I don't know why he would be there, but I really felt a lot better sending you this update. If you see any sign of either him, Kristoff or Sven, please, please let me know as soon as possible. Just a reminder of what Hans looks like: He's about the same height as Kristoff, I think but he could be an inch or so taller because he's more slender and all that. He has that auburn hair that's usually combed back and those long, ugly sideburns I can't believe I even thought were remotely attractive. And he's got green eyes. And he's probably wearing something tight and uncomfortable, knowing him. Okay, that's all for now._

_Love you and best regards,_

_Princess Anna of Arendelle._

Anna put the letter in an envelope and sealed it with wax. After she was finished, she opened the door to take the letter to the courier and bumped into Olaf.

“Oh! Sorry, Olaf! Are you okay?” she asked, looking down. Olaf's nose was pushed all the way into his face and sticking out the back of his head.

“Oh yeah, I'm fine. I have no bones, remember? Except, could you help me find my nose?”

Anna smiled. “Of course, and then, I gotta tell you something super, super important. But you can't tell anyone, okay?”

“What about Elsa?”

Anna thought for a moment. “Not Elsa. Not yet.” she decided. After all, she had just defied about fifty of sister's wishes. Better not drop bad news on her just yet...

***

As Anna walked with Olaf back from dropping off her letter, she eagerly tore open the letter she'd received from Rapunzel, hoping there would be news of Kristoff, but it was only Rapunzel saying that both her and Eugene would keep an eye out for them both and that she was sorry about her predicament. Rapunzel's advice was the same as Kristoff's; just do your best to be nice to Henrik until he leaves.

So much for that plan.

On the way back to the castle, Anna told Olaf about the information she had found out. The little snowman was worried.

“But... if Hans is around here, wouldn't he try to come here and... hurt you?” he asked. Anna shook her head.

“Nah. He's too scared I'll bust his teeth out again.” she joked, “And no, that would be a dumb move. I mean, we told literally like every guard to beat him up real bad if he ever came back, then bring him to Elsa or me or both of us so _we_ could beat him up.”

“So... we're safe from Hans?”

Anna nodded. “Don't worry, Olaf. If he hasn't showed his face around here yet, he clearly isn't going to. But... still...” she thought, “If he hasn't come around here, would that mean he's planning something evil?”

Olaf shrugged. “I don't know. I hope not.”

“Maybe Kristoff and Sven have something to do with it if he was...”

“What do you mean? Like they're helping him?” Olaf asked, panicked.

“Oh, no, no, no, not that at all.” Anna quickly assured him, “Like maybe they've got them stashed somewhere to get to me and Elsa.” she said, then realizing what she'd just said, freezing in place.

“Um, Anna?” Olaf piped up.

“That's it. He wants to get to me and Elsa. He wants to drive us apart and so he took Kristoff and Sven and he had his stupid brother come here and get into Elsa's head and make her all crazy so we'd end up fighting and he could come back and do... whatever it is he plans on doing.”

Olaf looked impressed, yet a little nervous. “You really think Henrik is here to trick Elsa?” he asked. Anna looked down at him.

“I'm almost sure of it, but he won't. I know he won't. I made sure of it.” she said, “He's not gonna mess with my sister as long as I'm around.”

 


	13. Chapter 13: Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel and Eugene wonder who they can trust; Kristoff has a close encounter

After a day passed, Rapunzel received another letter from Arendelle. She read the letter in her room, a hand making its way to her lips as she gasped, realizing that the Prince they met the other day was from the Southern Isles.

She sent for Eugene, who came running, huffing and puffing up the steps.

“What's wrong, blondie? Guy said it was urgent.” he said, trying to catch his breath. Rapunzel held out the letter. “What's this? Eugene asked, taking the letter.

“Read.” Rapunzel told him. Eugene's brown eyes scanned over the letter and widened as he read.

“Whoa shit.” he muttered.

“Language, Eugene.”

“Sorry blondie, but this is serious. I mean... really serious. What if that Hans guy is here? What if that was him we met in town?”

“It could be any of them. There's thirteen Westergard brothers and a lot of them look alike.” Rapunzel said.

“Yeah, that's true.”

“Eugene, we need to see him again. We need to ask him some questions to see if he is who he says he is.”

Eugene thought for a moment. “I'll do it.”

“What? Eugene-”

“No, no arguing with me on this, blondie. That guy could be some really bad news. I'm not risking you getting hurt. And plus, I used to be a thief, remember? I know how to tell when a person is lying or not with my eyes closed.” Eugene insisted.

Rapunzel sighed. She knew he was right. “Okay... but take Max with you. And be careful, Eugene.”

“Already planned on it. You know Max can smell a liar a mile away. And me, careful? Hon, remember who you're talking to.” he said, smirking as he kissed Rapunzel's head.

***

Kristoff wondered if the sun was out. He had absolutely no idea where Hans was, but he didn’t care. He’d hoped he walked off of a cliff or something, which would’ve been nice. Feeling antsy, he looked over at the Duke of Weselton’s cronies that had been watching him since he’d been taken. He'd heard them call each other by name, finally and he put together that the one with facial hair was called Erik and the other was Francis. His eyes burned with hatred for them, these two people that had beaten him up for no reason at all. They’d been stopped by Hans, which Kristoff was grateful for, but he didn’t know why… As his mind wandered, he heard a noise coming from above them.

_What the...? Could it be?_

He glanced over at Sven, who had heard it too, his ears twitching. As Kristoff listened, he could faintly make out the sound of voices… and footsteps.

Someone else was in there with them. Were they here to help him?

He shifted his gaze to Erik and Francis, who looked worried, almost scared as they had heard the sounds as well.

“Shit, you think someone’s found us out?” Erik asked.

“There’s no way. Nobody knows we’re here.”

As the footsteps sounded above them, Kristoff's breathing became rapid as he figured out what he had to do. He had to get their attention, whoever was up there. Sure, they were probably thieves looking to plunder whatever tower they were in, but he didn’t care. Anywhere would be better than here. Kristoff looked over at Sven, who knew what he was thinking and gave him a firm shake of his head. Kristoff worked his jaw, trying in vain to slip the gag off of his mouth, but it proved useless. Rolling his eyes, he looked up at the ceiling and began to shout for whoever was there, his pleas muffled by the gag.

“Mmmfff! Mmff hmmm mmff!” he called to them. _Help! I’m down here!_

As Kristoff began to shout, he was oblivious to the Erik and Francis scrambling, realizing that they had to quiet him somehow.

“Holy-!”

“Get over there, now! Keep that bastard quiet!” Erik hissed to his cohort, who quickly made his way over to Kristoff, pulling a knife from his waist as he clapped has hand over Kristoff’s mouth, silencing him even more. Regardless of his position, Kristoff continued to scream in vain for whoever was up above them, desperate for any help he could get.

“You’d better stop all that screaming and shut that mouth of yours, Ice boy.” Francis snarled into his ear, pressing the blade of his knife to Kristoff’s throat. “Be. Quiet.”

Kristoff gulped, doing as he was told. Sure, at this point he hardly believed he would get out of this alive, but just in case something did manage to happen, he didn’t want to die now at the hands of this son of a bitch. His breaths were rapid, coming through his nose as he struggled against his bonds, trying in vain to free himself in any way before he felt Francis push the knife even deeper into his neck.

“What did I say?” he hissed as Kristoff felt stinging sensation on his neck, closing his eyes tightly and whimpering into the gag as the man slowly cut into him.

“Be still and keep quiet if you want this to be the only thing I do.” Francis warned. He then removed his hand from over Kristoff’s mouth and held him by the jaw, his knife still pressed against his neck. Kristoff did his best to swallow the pain, the blood dripping from his neck down his to his chest as the footsteps above continued.

“Nobody’s here. There’s nothing.” Kristoff heard a faint voice say.

_No! I’m here! Please! Please, come down here! Please! Help me!_

“The boss probably won’t be too happy about this. Suppose we’d better break it to him gently.”

“Guess we’d better get out of here. Good thing too. This place gives me the creeps.”

Kristoff listened for the men, their footsteps retreating as he stared helplessly up at the ceiling. After a few minutes, they had gone. Francis then released him and pushed him to the ground roughly, Kristoff letting out a pained, muffled grunt as he hit the stone floor.

Where was he? How would he get out? Would he ever see his family again? Would he ever see Elsa or Olaf again?

Would he ever see Anna again? Would he ever get the chance to tell her how he really felt deep down inside? Sincerely?

Kristoff closed his eyes tight and laid his head down against the floor, trying his best to fight back the tears.

_Be a man, Kristoff. Don’t let them see you cry. Don’t you shed a tear… don’t do it._

He couldn’t help it. He had been reduced to nothing, his lowest point. Sure, he’d been pushed around all his life by others, but this was a hundred times worse. Days away from home, bound, gagged, beaten, bruised, broken and no chance of getting out. He thought of how Anna must feel and a couple of stray tears came from his eyes. Help had been so close, and yet he couldn’t even call for it…

It was over…

***

Eugene sat in a booth at the local pub and inn, hoping to see a sign of Elias or... whoever he was. He'd been there for about an hour now, leaving Maximus outside. As Eugene finished his beer, he saw the door open and the Prince walk inside and approach the bar.

“I'd like a-” he heard him begin before yelling across the pub at him.

“Hey, you!” the prince looked at him. Eugene waved him over. “Got an extra seat here if you wanna join me!”

Hans thought for a moment and shrugged. If he didn't join Eugene, he might not leave him alone and he'd rather not have Eugene suspicious of him. He approached the booth and sat down as Eugene waved down the bartender.

“Be a doll and get us two more, if you would!” he called over.

“Sure thing, Eugene.”

Eugene smirked and turned towards the prince. “So, how's it going?” he asked, playing it cool.

Hans shrugged. “Going pretty well. It's a lovely kingdom you and Rapunzel have here.”

“You're telling me. Honestly, I wasn't sure I'd like that part but hey, I guess you kinda learn to like your kingdom, huh? Speaking of which, how do you like your kingdom? I hear it's beautiful there.”

“It is rather nice there if I do say so myself,” Hans said, “It's just across from Arendelle so the winters get pretty cold, but they are beautiful.”

As they spoke, a waitress came and set their beers down in front of them. Eugene took his beer and sipped it, raising his glass to the waitress.

“Appreciate it.”

“No problem, Eugene. Let me know if I can get you two anything else, all right?”

“Will do.”

Eugene turned back to the prince as he tried his beer. The prince looked god smacked.

“Strong beer, huh?” Eugene smirked.

“Oh yes... very strong.” Hans choked out.

Eugene chuckled, “Takes some getting used to. By the second glass you'll be begging for a third. They brew it right here in Corona.”

“Is that so?”

“Mm-hm.” Eugene sipped his beer. “So, you just visiting Corona or are you just passing through?”

“Just passing through. I heard it was beautiful, especially with those floating paper lanterns they let go at night. Do they still do that even though Rapunzel is back?” Hans asked.

“Oh yeah. She loves those lanterns. She could never let those go.”

“Right.” Hans took another swig of beer. Eugene studied him carefully, but with a sense of subtlety. Since he'd read the letter, an uneasy feeling began to stir inside him but he remained as calm as he could. Being a thief for years had disciplined him very well, believe it or not.

“So, how long are you planning to stay?” Eugene asked.

“Probably a couple of days.” Hans answered, his eyes on his beer instead of Eugene.

_Lie._

“Are you staying here at the inn? I hear it's a great place to stay. Good food, good service.”

“Yes, I have a room upstairs actually.”

_Another lie._

“Oh okay, that's good for you. Did you come with anyone or are you traveling alone? Could get awful lonely traveling all by yourself.” Eugene said, sipping his beer.

“No, it's just me.” Hans said, looking down at his beer and taking another sip.

_You lying son of a bitch._

“It doesn't get lonely?”

“Eh, you get used to it.”

“You travel a lot?”

“Every now and again.”

_Bet you do a lot of traveling. Especially lately._ Eugene thought. “Ever been to Arendelle yourself? I know its right across the water from you guys.”

“Never been. Just two of my brothers.”

_Lie number four._

“Which ones? Maybe I've heard of them. Rapunzel and I visited there a few months ago and there was a Westergard brother there.”

“That was Hans.” Hans said.

Eugene snapped his fingers as if to act surprised. “Oh yeah! I remember. He's the one who got in all that trouble for trying to kill the Queen and her sister, yeah?”

Hans downcast his eyes, a little uneasy, but he couldn't let Eugene see that. “Sadly, yes. That was my brother.” he mumbled.

Eugene clicked his tongue, “What a naughty boy he must be. Pity that had to happen, isn't it?” he asked, toying with him.

“A real shame.”

“I have one other question for you, Elias.” Eugene said, taking the pictures of Kristoff and Sven from his pocket and smoothing out on the table. Hans' throat tightened as he looked down at the pictures. He looked up at Eugene and his green eyes met brown.

_Shit,_ thought Hans.

“These two went missing from Arendelle a while back and we've been asked to keep an eye out for them. You haven't seen them around Corona have you?”

Hans shook his head, giving Eugene all he needed. “No, can't say that I have.”

Eugene inhaled deeply, showing signs of disappointment. “The man's name is Kristoff Bjorgman. We hear he's about your height, you may have an inch or so on him but then again he wears boots most of the time. As you can see from the description, he's got messy blonde hair and brown eyes. The reindeer's name's Sven and he'll most likely be wherever Kristoff is. So, if you do manage to catch eye of them while you're here or you hear something, you come straight to me or Rapunzel and let us know. Got it?”

“Crystal.” Hans said, hesitating slightly. Eugene's brown eyes lingered on him for a moment before folding up the papers and stuffing them back in his pocket.

_Bingo,_ thought Eugene.

He chugged down the last of his beer and slammed the mug down on the table, letting out a long exhale. “Nothing like a good drink, huh Elias? Can I call you Elias?”

“Sure.”

“All right, well, Elias,” he began, getting up and stretching out, popping his back, “I'd better get going, it's been a long day.” he said, faking a yawn. “Can't keep the wife waiting, y'know?”

“Right.”

Eugene straightened up and went over beside Hans, extending his hand. “Good talking to you. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. Until then...” Hans took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “Good talking with you.” he said. Eugene flashed him a grin and winked, giving his shoulder a quick slap before exiting.

“Catch you on the flip side, handsome.” he said as he exited. Eugene heard the door shut behind him as he mounted Maximus, who whinnied at him.

“Oh you'd better believe it, Max.” he said, looking back at the pub, “This is the guy we're looking for.”

Inside the pub, Hans saw Eugene look back before he rode away.

Suddenly he didn't feel quite so safe anymore.

 


End file.
